By: Lauretta Fagbohun, Abeokuta.

The Ogun State waste management sector has been plunged into renewed turmoil as members of the Association of Waste Management Vendors and Recyclers staged a protest at the State House of Assembly on Thursday.

The demonstrators are demanding the immediate removal of the Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya, and the Special Adviser, Ogun State Waste Management Agency (OGWAMA), Farouk Akintunde citing administrative recklessness and contempt of court.

Led by the Association’s Chairman, Kunle Adesanya, the protesters accused the Commissioner for Environment, Ola Oresanya of orchestrating a systemic dismantling of the agency’s leadership.

The grievances center on three major pillars of illegal deregistration, judicial defiance, and shadow leadership.

The vendors claimed that valid licenses and certificates issued under the embattled Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Abayomi Hunye, have been summarily canceled, forcing vendors into a dark era of multiple registrations and fresh fees.

“Now, it is clear that they have started multiple registrations again. They have been exposed because we have sighted receipts of someone who has paid four times. The evidence is available. That person paid for all four licenses on the same day”

Brandishing placards with slogans such as ‘Ola Oresanya Must Go’, ‘Gov Dapo Abiodun, Save Our Soul’, ‘Multiple Registration of Vendors Must Stop’, ‘Farouk Must Not Cancel our Registration’, ‘Ola Oresanya is Not Competent to be in charge of Ogun State Environmental Issues’, Farouq is Ola Oresanya’s Puppet. Save Our Soul’, the vendors appealed to the Governor to intervene speedily.

“Our demand is that the Governor should save us. Our Association is not limited to Ogun State and our members in other states are not facing this kind of hardship. The government should do a thorough investigation, establish the truth, and punish accordingly”

The group also alleged that the Commissioner is recognizing and providing backing to a splinter faction of the association in direct violation of a High Court interlocutory injunction, branding the Special Adviser, Farouk Akintunde as a puppet used by the Commissioner to bypass established protocols.

“Ola Oresanya is instigating a group of suspended members to parade themselves. Since the matter is in court, they are not supposed to be recognized. It is uncalled for,” stated Adesanya.

Reacting to the allegations, Oresanya denied the allegations, stating that he neither relates to any Association nor has any business with OGWAMA’s affairs.

He challenged the association to provide proof of his involvement.

“Apart from the fact that I don’t deal with Associations, I don’t know any Association. I don’t deal with them and I’m not working in OGWAMA. Do they have any proof? That is a fragment of somebody’s imagination.”

Amidst the chaos, the embattled Managing Director of OGWAMA, Abayomi Hunye, has broken his silence to address rumors regarding his employment status.

Speaking to journalists following his appearance at the Ogun State House of Assembly Complex on Thursday, Hunye clarified that while he is currently on

compulsory leave pending an investigation, he remains the MD/CEO of the Agency

While slamming some media reports on the matter over willful misrepresentation, Hunye insisted that the letter he received was a compulsory leave notification, rather than a termination letter.

“I was not sacked. I was directed to proceed on leave to allow for an investigation into allegations leveled against me. The letter is clear on this; any claim to the contrary is a distortion of the facts” Hunye remarked.