Hunye Extorting Ogun Waste Management Vendors To Fund His ‘Inglorious’ Guber Ambition – Association

ABEOKUTA – The Association of Waste Management Vendors and Recyclers of Nigeria (AWMVRN), Ogun State Chapter, has accused the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun State Waste Management Agency (OGWAMA), Mr Abayomi Hunye, of allegedly using his office to amass wealth in pursuit of a future governorship ambition.

The association claimed that Mr Hunye has, since assuming office, allegedly engaged in extortion, abuse of office, and institutional bullying, which it said are driven by what it described as personal political aspirations.

The group alleged that the OGWAMA boss has been accumulating wealth through “dubious and exploitative means,” citing his flamboyant lifestyle and public statements as indications of a long-term political agenda.

The group made the allegations on Tuesday during a press conference in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.

Speaking on behalf of the association, the President, Mrs. Opeoluwa Balogun, accused the OGWAMA MD of imposing what she described as arbitrary and exploitative charges on private waste operators across the state.

According to Mrs. Balogun, the annual license renewal fee payable to OGWAMA increased from ₦100,000 in 2024 to ₦205,000 in 2025, and later to ₦225,000 in 2026.

She alleged that Mr. Hunye justified the increase as a strategy to reduce the number of operators in the sector, a move the association described as a deliberate attempt to force members out of business.

She further alleged that members who failed to renew their licenses are individually threatened and compelled to pay before the end of December each year.

The association also accused the OGWAMA MD of organising mandatory seminars with registration fees initially set at ₦100,000 and later reduced to ₦50,000 following complaints, while allegedly insisting that members who did not attend must still pay or face sanctions.

She added that some members who paid the higher fee were not refunded.

The association also alleged that during a 2025 workshop organised by OGWAMA, members were required to pay ₦200,000 to display roll-up banners at designated locations, an action it described as exploitative.

Mrs. Balogun further accused Mr. Hunye of imposing fines of up to ₦500,000 on members without investigation or fair hearing, a practice she said has driven many operators out of business.

She claimed that despite over 1,000 members reportedly paying ₦50,000 each at a recent mandatory conference—amounting to about ₦50 million—participants were provided with poor feeding and no conference materials.

She further alleged that complaints were met with threats, with the OGWAMA MD allegedly claiming that only the governor, and not the Commissioner for Environment or other authorities, could question his actions.

Responding to claims attributed to Mr. Hunye that the association is illegal, Mrs. Balogun strongly refuted the allegation, stating that AWMVRN is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

She said the association’s executives have held several meetings with OGWAMA management and have documentary evidence, photographs, and records of members’ participation in OGWAMA-organised activities.

She further alleged that some records were deleted during protests and claimed the association possesses additional documentary and audio evidence, including recorded conversations.

The association also linked the alleged extortion to severe financial hardship among its members.

Also speaking, the association’s Secretary, Pastor Segun Adetula claimed that between 2025 and 2026, two to four members reportedly died after developing high blood pressure, which he attributed to stress arising from debts incurred through thrift and loan schemes created to cope with rising license fees.

Adetula accused the OGWAMA MD of abolishing quarterly consultative meetings between OGWAMA and private operators, which he said had existed since the agency was established by executive order under the Ogun State Constitution.

He further alleged that the association was denied access to ₦12.3 billion reportedly earmarked for waste management operations in 2025.

The dispute escalated on Wednesday following comments allegedly made by a representative of the OGWAMA MD, identified as Mr. Akinsanya, during a separate press conference held at Iwe-Irohin press centre.

The association rejected claims of illegality and cabalism, describing the representative as an impostor who was voted out during the association’s 2024 Annual General Meeting over alleged embezzlement of members’ funds.

The vendors also criticised OGWAMA’s proposed scrap village initiative and restrictions on direct vendor-to-company transactions, describing the policies as an attempt to replace a free market system with a controlled monopoly.

“All efforts to resolve these issues through dialogue have been exhausted,” the association said, adding that it has formally drawn the attention of the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, MFR, to what it described as an urgent situation that could lead to the collapse of the waste management sector.

The association has threatened to institute legal action if the state government fails to investigate the allegations, curb what it described as the excesses of the OGWAMA leadership, or replace the agency’s management.

But in a statement issued by Abayomi Hunye, he said the ongoing war against him was because of he refused to compromise institutional standards or shield wrongdoing.

Hunye maintained that, under his watch OGWAMA has been impartial, transparent and accountable operational policies, including the discontinuation of multiple and illegal registrations by individuals, which according to him, the association vehemently opposed due to the benefits they previously derived from it.