The Ondo State Government has redeployed the Secretary of the Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, OSOPADEC, Princess Abike Bayo-Ilawole, amid swirling allegations of a ₦463 million financial scandal.
Bayo-Ilawole, who was moved to the Ondo State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, as a Permanent Secretary, was directed to hand over her duties to her predecessor at SUBEB, Mr. F.A. Omomowo, sequel to a notification issued by the state government on February 16, 2026.
The redeployment, coming on the heels of mounting public outrage, has done little to quell growing demands for a full-scale investigation into alleged financial impropriety within the commission.
Legal Observer reports that the scandal erupted following the emergence of leaked documents from within OSOPADEC, purportedly exposing a pattern of questionable financial transactions.
Recall that the Chairman, Mr. Biyi Poroye, and the commission’s Secretary, had appeared at the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) over an alleged N463 million financial misconduct.
Also quizzed was the Director of Project Planning and Development at the commission, Olukorede Adeshina-Oladapo.
Legal Observer gathered that the Special Adviser to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Health, Prof. Simidele Odimayo, and the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun, were equally invited by the bureau over allegations of drawing double salaries from the state treasury.
However, Odimayo refused to speak to reporters after facing the panel, but Ajibefun described the allegations of double earning as false.
“It was a false and wrong allegations. They said. I am the Commissioner for Education, and I’m also a member of Council of the University of Medical Science (UNIMED).
“Those people who wrote the petition are ignorant of the running of the tertiary institution system. As a Commissioner for Education, I’m an automatic member of the governing council of our universities. I only collect sitting allowance and all members of council collect sitting allowance.”
