We didn’t stop Olubadan’s salary - Oyo govt; It’s not true, says Olubadan

By Adeolu Adeyemo - 06.02.2008

Oyo State government and the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Samuel Odulana, on Tuesday traded words over the alleged stoppage of the monarch’s salaries by the Bayo Alao-Akala’ administration.

While the monarch insisted that the state government had stopped his salaries and allowances, the state government described the claim as untrue.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Hosea Agboola, who spoke with newsmen in Ibadan, described the claim of the monarch as “preposterous and alarming.”

“Since assumption of office, I have ensured that the money due to the traditional ruler was deducted from the councils’ allocations from the source to prevent mismanagement.

“Nobody stopped the Olubadan’s salary at any time. It was after the matter was reported in the media that he wrote to us to claim his salary and the ministry approved it,” adding that “if some council chairmen were not paying the monarch, that is their own affair and we are not in the picture. It was when the Olubadan wrote to us that we intervened.

“The monarch claimed that the money being given to him was not enough to take care of his expenses as he alleged that the state government was using his money to pay teachers’ salaries and pensions, but investigations by the government did not support the claims of the monarch as the government discovered that the monarch’s allowance in the account was enough to take care of all his expenses.

“The government was not aware of the stoppage of the monarch’s entitlements as alleged but Olubadan wrote a letter to my ministry recently and alleged that the councils were using part of the money due to him, from the statutory allocation, to pay pensioners and teachers’ salaries.”

Speaking through his media aide, Prince Dotun Oloyede, on Tuesday, Oba Odulana said the claims of the commissioner were false and unfounded. “The seven affected local council chairmen were yet to remit the monarch’s five per cent allocation despite the state government’s intervention,” he said.