The late activist and Afenifere spokesman Yinka Odumakin funereal committee made up of activists and comrade are at each other’s jugular over the N10 million Nigerians donated for the burial which took place on April 24.
The memorial committee gave birth to an accountability committee when it became obvious the donations were being pilfered.
However, the accountability committee is already smeared too.
The memorial committee described the accountability members as “self-seeking infiltrators masquerading as civil society activists.”
That description follow the indictment by the accountability committee asking the memorial group to refund N7.9 million to the Odumakins.
In the back and forth, Comrade Awa Bamiji of the Civil Society and Pro-Democracy Movement Memorial Initiative, 2021, dismissed the allegations.
‘” The accountability committee should desist from their divisive reactionary orchestration of disaffection within the movement or be ready to face the wrath of the majority and genuine Leaders and Elders of the Civil Society Movement.”
Bamiji hammered another comrade, one Declan Ihekaire, as one of the key rabble rousers, saying he specifically requested and collected N20,000 to fuel his personal car to and from Osun for the burial.
Bamiji also accused others of taking and sharing N5 million, saying this is part of the evidence already gathered.
“To this end, we have already instructed our legal advisers to approach the Law Court immediately to press charges of willful defamation, obtaining by force under duress and physical assault against them and their cohorts at large if they continue in their nefarious and malicious ways of unprovoked assault and smear campaign dubbed as resolutions of their dubious accountability gang.
“As the conscience of the country, the leadership of the Civil Society and Pro – Democracy Movement hereby vehemently condemns, disowns and distances itself from the divisive activities of this bunch of pretenders and Infiltrators who are of no significant reputation and scruples.”
Ihekiare has responded.
He ordered Bamiji to be arrested as he distanced himself
from the Memorial Committee where issues of the disbursement of funds were raised.
According to him, some of them opened “Odumakin Real Accountability Platform” and added Awa Bamiji and Comrade Wale Okunniyi but they left.
With multiple accountability committees springing up, the findings remains: Comrades have embezzled roughly N7million of Odumakin’s funeral fund.
“They have gone begging people to give them soft landing and the committee members are saying, no, we are not backing down. We are going to address a press conference on this,” said Ihekiare to a newspaper.
“I have just told you the truth and nothing but the truth. We need to sanitise civil society. They should just feel remorse and come out to say we are sorry. It was even suggested that they should be ostracized from the activities of civil society,” he said.
The accountability committee later issued another statement, saying the claim made by Bamiji was an unsubstantiated story designed to implicate Odumakin family.
“The only place where the sum of N5 million was mentioned is in the budget itself and was listed as donation by the Lagos State Government towards the burial of late Comrade Yinka Odumakin.
“Other South West Governors of Ekiti and Osun States made donations of a staggering N1, 000,000 and N2.500.000 respectively for the same purpose. Details of the income and expenditures analysis as submitted by Wale Okunniyi and Awa Bamiji, shall be affixed here under for our perusal.
“Meanwhile, the total amount donated by three (3) South West Governors, (N8.5million naira only in total) was all listed as part of the total money lavishly wasted on frivolous expenses, multiple charges for same items, heavily padded relevant and irrelevant materials, overloading and highly overcharged provisions for non-existing expenditures etc. That is, if there was any at all,” the statement added.
Nigerian activists like to go gung-ho over transparency and accountability in government.