KOSOFE LG DEBUNKS ALLEGATIONS LEVELLED AGAINST COUNCIL BOSS, SAYS PUBLICATION IS FALLACIOUS, MALICIOUS

Kosofe Local Government has described a publication of an online Facebook page which was titled: "Kosofe Local Government Chairman and His Rubber-stamp Exco/Cabinet Members" (sic) as fallacious and a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of its executive chairman Barrister Moyosore Ogunlewe.

The Local Government made the statement on Friday in an interview granted by its Secretary to the Local government, Prince Fatai Gbadebo, at the local government Secretariat.

Prince Gbadebo who expressed shock and disgust over the publication told newsmen that there was no scintilla of truth in the statement of executive high-handedness, contract inflation, short payments of executive members' salaries and running of the affairs of the local government as a personal property made against the local government chairman by the Facebook page.

He explained that the local government chairman, contrary to the statement of the Facebook page, had been running an open and inclusive administration since the assumption of office while contracts executed usually followed due process.

"We came into office in April this year while the Chairman came in on 27 July last year. Right from our assumption of office, we have been holding our statutory meetings: Exco meeting, the procurement meeting, the PCRC - all the meetings the administrative guidelines mandate us to hold, we have been holding them on monthly basis.

" So I was taken aback when I came across all the lies that were put up by the writer of the damaging write-up which was posted on Kosofe Headline.

" All the things you read there are mere fabrication and falsehood. No contract was awarded by the chairman without proper processing. 

"The normal thing is to discuss whatever contract we want to embark on in the Exco meeting. After the Exco meeting, we make the procurement in conformity with budgetary provisions.

" That's how the chairman has been running the council and not as a one-man show they put up in their write-up": the SLG explained.

Prince Gbadebo further debunked another statement made by the Facebook page that the local government Chairman had been paying his executive members salaries far below the stipulated amount while other entitlements of office were not paid. 

The former Kosofe Local Government Chairmanship aspirant explained that the local government chairman had been paying his executive members the exact amount stipulated by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

He added that the chairman couldn't act contrary to the stipulation of RMAFC

He said: "It is not possible to peg the salary or decide on his own volition the amount of salary he will be paying to a public office holder. We have the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) that stipulated the amount of money each public officeholder will earn as remuneration.

" The chairman can't even decide how much he earns. It is the RMAFC that does that. 

" And we have a letter from the ministry of local government and community affairs stipulating the amount of money each public office holder would earn at the end of the month. And that is what the chairman has been doing ever since he was sworn into office. He can't do anything outside that".

While stating that the author of the malicious write-up would be fished out and brought to book, he pointed out that the local government chairman had performed excellently since assumption of office and had been spending judiciously within the budgetary provisions to rehabilitate roads, construct drainages, provide health care facilities and quality education to the residents.