The Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation (SSACO) has challenged Hon. Bimbo Adekanmbi to substantiate his corruption allegations against the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Oyo State, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, or face legal action.
SSACO challenges Adekanmbi over LG autonomy
In a statement, SSACO Director of Media and Publicity, Mr Bisi Oladele, accused Adekanmbi of distorting historical events and making claims it described as falsehoods to undermine the senator’s political standing.
He described the allegations, reportedly made during a radio interview, as an attempt to discredit Alli ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
The campaign organisation said the allegations concerning Alli’s tenure as the chairman of Ibadan North Local Government Area failed to account for the financial challenges faced by local governments across the country during the period.
It noted that Alli prioritised workers’ welfare and maintained prompt salary payments while in office, earning recognition from the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Oyo State.
It attributed the financial difficulties experienced by local governments following the Federal Military Government’s January 1993 policy on staff promotions and salary increases to inadequate allocations to implement the policy.
SSACO also insisted that the problem was not peculiar to Alli’s administration.
The organisation stated that the challenges continued beyond his tenure and were subsequently addressed through institutional measures.
The measures, it stated, included the establishment of the National Primary Education Commission in 1997 and the introduction of first-line charges for teachers’ salaries by 1999.
SSACO maintained that using the period’s financial difficulties to accuse Alli of corruption without presenting supporting evidence amounted to a distortion of history for political purposes.
It therefore urged Adekanmbi to make public the report backing his allegations or face a defamation suit.
The campaign organisation also criticised the administration of Governor ‘Seyi Makinde, accusing it of weakening local government administration and limiting the capacity of grassroots institutions to deliver essential services to residents.
It stated that Alli, if elected governor in 2027, would prioritise strengthening the state’s 33 local government areas by improving their administrative and financial capacity to respond effectively to the needs of their communities.
Among the proposed priorities, SSACO said, would be the reconstruction of feeder and access roads to facilitate the movement of people and goods, boost economic activities and improve connectivity across the state.
The organisation expressed confidence that voters would reject Adekanmbi and Makinde in the 2027 elections, adding that its campaign would focus on restoring effective grassroots governance.
It further challenged Adekanmbi to engage in issue-based political discourse by presenting verifiable evidence for his claims and discussing concrete policy alternatives rather than, as it alleged, seeking political advantage through the reinterpretation of historical events.
