The allegation of misappropriating N1.9 billion, which was the 2023 budget of Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, levelled against the council chairman, Hon. John Campos Ogundare, has been dismissed.
A petition by a group known as Concerned Residents of Eti-Osa East LCDA had accused Ogundare of violating the 2023 appropriation law by allegedly diverting funds to projects and expenditures not covered by the budget. The petition, submitted in April 2024 and titled “Call for Suspension of the Chairman of Eti-Osa East LCDA over Allegations of Misappropriation of N1.9 Billion from the 2023 Budget”, was also addressed to the State Audit Service Commission.
Speaking at the time, the group’s coordinator, Comrade Segun Williams, cited multiple allegations, including failure to disburse running costs to departments, neglecting payments to past political office holders, unauthorised project executions, and lack of transparency in financial records.
Following the petition and a protest at the Assembly Complex, supporters of Ogundare—including All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in the area—staged a counter-protest defending the chairman’s integrity and transparency in office.
It was gathered that the Lagos State House of Assembly found no evidence to support the claims and subsequently cleared Hon. Ogundare of any wrongdoing.
“The Assembly has long cleared the Chairman of the allegations after its committee’s investigation found no incriminating evidence against him.
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“The State Audit Service Commission, instigated by the petition, subjected the 2023 budget performance of the council to a thorough audit, an exercise that was done twice in three months; and on both occasions, the allegations proved unfounded,” sources familiar with the matter said.
The report said the investigations carried out by the House of Assembly and Audit Service Commission revealed that the Eti-Osa East LCDA’s Revenue for the Year 2023, with federal, state allocation, and internally generated revenues combined, amounted to N1.4 billion.
“The discovery gave the lie to the allegations as it shows clearly that the accusation was baseless and misleading because it is impossible to appropriate an amount that was never received,” sources explained.
It was further gathered that the fact of the matter, rather than the alleged fiction peddled by the petitioners, propelled the Council’s legislative arm to pass to the council chairman their resolution at a plenary on the matter.
“In fact the councillors had set the records straight on the part they played in the allegations via a communication to the Executive Chairman in which they said they held a plenary where they declared that at no time did they accuse Ogundare of misappropriating N1.9 billion.
“They said the only thing they did then was to seek explanation on the year 2023 budget from the Chairman, and found it curious that their position was deliberately misrepresented in order to tar the council leadership with the corruption brush,” a source in the Assembly said.