Some stakeholders in Adamawa State have criticised local government chairmen in the state for spending huge sums of money to send their wives to Istanbul, Turkey, on leadership training.

The 21 wives, along with some senior officials of the Ministry of Local Government, reportedly departed the country last week for the programme, a move that has sparked outrage among workers and retirees who described it as wasteful and insensitive.

A 75-year-old retiree from Yola North Local Government, Abubakar Shehu, condemned the trip and called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the “financial scandal.”

“What is the leadership position of local government chairmen’s wives? Even the wife of the governor is not sent abroad for leadership training. This is nothing but corruption and a mockery of democracy in Adamawa State,” he said.

Another retired staff, who spoke in confidence, urged Governor Ahmadu Fintiri to involve the EFCC on the matter to protect the image of his administration.

“We now see the dangers of local government autonomy. Some of these wives did not even complete primary school, yet they are being flown to Istanbul in the name of leadership training,” he said.

Also, a serving council chairman from Northern Adamawa, distanced himself from the trip, saying he was not consulted before his wife’s name was shortlisted.

“I was sleeping when I got a call from one of the ALGON officials asking me to send my wife’s details for a visa. That was the first time I heard of such a project. This is simply an abuse of public funds,” he said.

But the Chairman of Toungo Local Government and state chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Suleiman Toungo, who confirmed the trip also defended it.

He noted that council chairmen themselves had benefited from similar overseas training two months earlier.

“We did our training two months ago, so I do not see anything wrong in our wives going for training outside the country. They are our wives and we need their advice. We are looking at the importance of training them on leadership, not the cost,” he said. (Daily Trust)