Ondo Monarch Accused Of Fraud, Diversion Of Salaries By Chiefs

Six traditional rulers in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State have dragged the Ajobu of Araromi Obu Kingdom, Oba Aderemi Adelola, before the State Government over an alleged fraud, diversion, abuse of office and criminal conversion of their monthly stipends running into several millions of Naira.

They demanded for the immediate refund of the unpaid salaries to each of the beneficiaries and urged the State Government to urgently stop the monarch from meddling with their statutory entitlements forthwith.

The Ajobu, Oba Adelola, who is the Paramount Ruler in the Contituency 2 of the Odigbo Local Government, was also alleged to, aside from diverting their monthly stipends into his personal use for several years running, accused by the traditional chiefs who are referred to as Olojas, of also collecting salaries of dead Chiefs without disclosing the death of such Chiefs to the State Government and pocketing same while neither giving such money to the deceased families nor returning same to the State Government coffers.

The six Olojas, namely, Oloja Ibrahim Akintunde, the Oloja of Koseru; Oloja Charles Basorun, Oloja of Imorun; Oloja Akinbolusere, the Oloja of Kajola; Oloja Ipaye, Oloja of Ajebamidele; Oloja Onokun, Oloja of Ayetoro and Oloja Robinson Adenikinju, Oloja of Ago Alaye, in an 11 Paragraph-Petition titled: “A case of fraud, criminal conversion and abuse of office by Oba Aderemi Adelola ( Ajobu of Araromi Obu Kingdom)” dated January 4, 2018, and signed by their lawyer, Mr Tunde Ajayi of Adejumola, Ajayi & Co routed to the State Government through the office of the Odigbo Local Government Caretaker Chairman, regretted that for several years running, the Ajobu had, despite signing for and collecting their salaries, bluntly refused to pay them such entitlements.

This, they insisted, was a breach of the statutorily provisions of stipends for traditional rulers and Chiefs by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria midwifed through the local government councils.

Specifically, they alleged that the Oloja of Ayetoro had been deprived of his financial entitlements for 10 years, that of Ajebamidele, 6 years; Imorun, 5 years; Oloja Ago Alaye, 3 and-a-half-years; Oloja Koseru, 2 years adding that “the Oloja of Kajola who is now dead was never paid his salary in his life time and till date, the Ajobu still collects his salary from the Odigbo Local Government without remittance to his family neither was same returned to the Treasury of the Odigbo local government.”

The petition which were sent to the State Deputy Governor, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the State Police Commissioner, Chairman Council of Obas, the State Security Services, Odigbo Local government, the member Representing the Odigbo Constituency 2 at the State House of Assembly amongst others averred that several High chiefs in the area were being owed as much as 17 months while most have died waiting for their emoluments which the Ajobu allegedly continued to collect without giving such to their families or returning same back to the Treasury of the Local Government Council.

To buttress their allegations, they reeled out several names of Chiefs who were being owed as much as 17 months arrears in their petition. These also included dead chiefs who, they disclosed, were still on the payroll of the Council.

While attributing this development to the fact that it was the Ajobu who, as the prescribed authority, has been the only person collecting money from the Odigbo Local Government for the purpose of paying salaries, they regretted that he used this opportunity to fraudulently convert the money to his personal use by not paying the beneficiaries and / or short -change them where payment is made at all.

On the strength of this allegations, the Olojas who called for the immediate refunds of money collected for their salaries which had not been paid by to them by the Ajobu for years to each of the beneficiary. They equally frowned at the current system which allows the monarch to be signatory to the payment vouchers of all chiefs in the domain, without recourse to the Chiefs, a development which they alleged facilitated the Ajobu to be able to convert such monies to his personal use contrary to what it was meant for.

They, therefore, urged the State Government to stop the payment of their salaries through the Ajobu of Araromi Obu forthwith “for gross breach of trust and abuse of office” because of their past sad experience and the continued sufferings of the Chiefs most of whom, they disclosed, were either dying of hunger while some have health challenges and “have to pay medical bills to avoid going to early grave” and in the overall interest of justice.

Below are pictures of their petition as addressed to the state government: