Ibadan council staff convicted for sale of govt property

The Oyo State Anti-corruption Agency (OYACA) has announced the conviction of Adesina Oyegoke, an Assistant Chief Executive Officer at Lagelu Local Government, for illegally selling landed property owned by the State Government.

Mr Oyegoke, who worked in the Local Government’s Estate department, was charged with three counts of corruption and sentenced to three months in prison under the 2019 OYACA Law.

Magistrate O.A Akande (SMI), presiding over Special Court 8, Iyaganku, delivered the judgment on Wednesday, 14 August, 2024, and found Mr Oyegoke guilty on all counts before sentencing him.

This was disclosed in a statement on Thursday by the Agency’s Executive Secretary, I.O Tijani, a lawyer, on behalf of the chairperson of OYACA, Eni Esan, a retired justice.

Mr Esan urged all civil servants to take the judgment to heart and refrain from engaging in any form of corruption.

“OYACA uses this medium to warn civil servants to desist from all acts of corruption, which only plunges the state into underdevelopment and disparages the good image and enviable status of the Oyo State government,” he said.

The agency stated the landed property sold by the convict was under the supervision of the State Housing Corporation.

OYACA was founded by virtue of the Oyo State Anti-Corruption Agency Law, 2019. Its operations entails blocking revenue leakages in government coffers and preventing public office holders and government employees from abusing their positions.

The Oyo State Anti-Corruption Agency Law, 2019 (the “Law”) was passed by the Oyo State House of Assembly and ratified by the State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on 10 December, 2019.

In particular, the law forbids the giving or promising to give money, fees, donations, loans, gifts, office, dignity, valuable security, property, or interest in property (which includes any kind of property, whether movable or immovable), in exchange for carrying out a public administrative duty.