Dare Babalola
Human rights activist, Deji Adeyanju, has criticised Nigerian state governors, alleging widespread mismanagement of public funds and poor performance across the country’s subnational governments.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Adeyanju reacted to supporters of the Osun State Governor who had been circulating a video clip online, suggesting that Governor Ademola Adeleke deserves a second term based on his performance.
He, however, insisted that his full comments during a recent interview against Adeleke were being misrepresented and urged the public to watch the complete interview.
According to him, he had made broader criticisms of governance in Nigeria, arguing that governors across the country have failed to justify the allocations they receive from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
“I said both the Osun governor, Alex Otti and all the present governors are useless and can’t justify 0.05% of the allocations they received from FAAC,” he stated, referring to Ademola Adeleke and Alex Otti.
Adeyanju further alleged that no state in the country could be described as truly developed despite decades of revenue inflows, adding that Nigeria would have been far more advanced if public resources had been properly managed since 1999.
“I further claimed that no single state in Nigeria is developed. I said none of the so-called front runner politicians were able to develop their states but want us to believe they can develop Nigeria,” he wrote.
He also argued that past governors who received far less revenue reportedly performed better than many of current officeholders, while criticising what he described as financial mismanagement in some states.
Adeyanju concluded that the recent removal of fuel subsidy appears to benefit state governors more than ordinary Nigerians, suggesting that the development was contributing to a wave of political defections across the country.
