Follow Us on Google
From Our Correspondent
The Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN) has called on the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Ogun State, Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, to clear allegations of corruption and budget manipulation against him before seeking the mandate of voters in the 2027 governorship election.
The civil society organisation insisted that Adeola, who chairs the Senate Committee on Appropriations, should not be allowed to proceed with his governorship ambition without answering questions over alleged irregularities in federal budget allocations between 2023 and 2026.
It consequently called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate allegations of duplicated and untraceable projects, questionable budgetary allocations and other claims concerning the senator’s stewardship of the Appropriations Committee.
TAN argued that the allegations raised fundamental questions about integrity and accountability in public office, particularly at a time Nigerians were grappling with economic hardship and demanding greater transparency in the management of public resources.
In a statement signed by its president, Oluwole Oladapo, titled “Senator Solomon Adeola (Yayi) Cannot Go Into An Election Without Clearing Allegations of Appropriation Corruption,” the group warned that allowing unresolved allegations to be ignored because of political considerations would undermine public confidence in the electoral process.
“As an organisation committed to public integrity, TAN asserts that there is nowhere in the civilised world where an individual aspiring to a public office of such great significance would be allowed to contest without satisfactorily clearing his name of serious ethical clouds.
“The ongoing reliance on the power of incumbency to shove candidates down the throats of the electorate without addressing fundamental crises of integrity undermines the core values of our democratic space,” the statement said.
The organisation maintained that the allegations should not be dismissed as political propaganda, insisting that Adeola’s aspiration to govern Ogun State made it imperative for relevant agencies to examine the claims independently.
It specifically referred to a petition reportedly submitted to the ICPC by the Pan African Society for Social and Economic Change (PASSEC), alleging irregularities in federal budgets between 2023 and 2026.
According to TAN, the petition raised questions about the alleged insertion of duplicated or untraceable projects into the budgets and the allocation of funds to agencies outside their statutory mandates.
“Beyond identity disputes, we are calling on relevant anti-corruption agencies to immediately intervene and investigate the Senator’s performance as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations,” the group said.
“It seems to us that the petition by the Pan African Society for Social & Economic Change (PASSEC) submitted to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that alleged irregularities in federal budgets between 2023 and 2026, claiming the insertion of untraceable or duplicated projects and the allocation of funds to agencies outside their statutory mandates has been left unattended.”
TAN argued that the persistent problems associated with federal budget implementation could not be blamed exclusively on the executive arm of government, stressing that the National Assembly also had a responsibility to ensure transparency in appropriations and expenditure.
Other News
The organisation alleged that weaknesses in legislative budget scrutiny and oversight had contributed to the failure of public spending to deliver the expected benefits to Nigerians.
“All Nigerians are aware of the scandalous and epileptic nature of annual budget implementation in this country. The citizens cannot just focus on the Executive organ of government alone because most of these unprecedented budgetary break-and-quench anomalies are caused by the malfunctioning of the Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly which Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Yayi) presides over. The entire mess originates from there,” it alleged.
TAN also raised concerns about separate allegations relating to Adeola’s identity and declarations, urging relevant authorities to examine the claims alongside the questions surrounding his role in budget appropriations.
It maintained that allegations involving the management of public funds should be subjected to independent scrutiny irrespective of the political affiliation or electoral ambitions of the individual concerned.
“The democratic values of our nation are at stake when serious allegations are glossed over by political structures. We cannot treat allegations of this magnitude as mere political noise,” Oladapo said.
The group warned political parties against sacrificing integrity and accountability in their determination to win elections, arguing that the credibility of democratic institutions depended on the standards applied to candidates seeking public office.
“We call on political parties to refrain from bypassing ethical scrutiny in the deployment of candidates for significant public offices,” it said.
TAN consequently demanded that all processes relating to Adeola’s governorship ambition be suspended pending the conclusion of investigations into the allegations.
“Therefore, we demand that until all these allegations have been properly and satisfactorily cleared, all processes regarding the Senator’s governorship ambition should be put on hold.
“As a matter of fact, he deserves to be immediately disqualified from the race pending the outcome of a full investigation into all these anomalies being alleged by several stakeholders in Nigeria,” the organisation declared.
It insisted that Nigeria must uphold credible standards of accountability in governance, warning that the country was “not a Banana Republic that can be operated as a private commercial enterprise.”
The allegations against Adeola remain unproven, and TAN’s demand for his disqualification does not, by itself, establish any legal basis for excluding him from the election.
Adeola’s response to the latest allegations was not contained in the statement.
