Tag: Akeredolu

Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has denied report that he would soon return to Germany for medical vacation.

Governor Akeredolu, who described the news as wicked and misleading, said the report was concocted and planted by ‘drowning politicians who are still nursing the pains of defeated expectations.’

Akeredolu stated that his safe return from medical vacation caused the embattled politicians sleepless nights and gnashing their teeth in regrets of their failed evil plans.

Speaking through his chief press secretary, Richard Olatunde, Akeredolu, said his administration was committed to addressing genuine concerns of the people of the state.

He said governance was not about showbiz where the governor embarked on fashion parades at the market square to annouce his presence in the state.

Read Also: I am in charge, Akeredolu tells protesting PDP

The statement read: “We understand the importance of development as the major driver of peaceful, thriving and egalitarian society.

“Governor Akeredolu’s administration has consistently demonstrated its dedication to the state’s progress. Recently, he approved the recruitment of medical professionals and healthcare workers in demonstration of our commitment to enhancing the state’s healthcare system.

“To boost revenue generation, Governor Akeredolu has approved the fresh recruitment of 150 staff for the state Internal Revenue Service. Additionally, modern tax stations are being constructed in Ondo and Ikare, along with a Revenue court in Akure.

“We value the welfare of our workers, and as such, Governor Akeredolu recently approved the payment of outstanding leave bonuses. Salaries for workers in the state have been paid up to date.

“Contrary to the claims made by the opposition, Governor Akeredolu is diligently fulfilling his duties. Activities are ongoing in various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and the governor is actively engaged in addressing state matters.

“We urge members of the public to dismiss this false news and not be swayed by the lied and misleading information spread by those with ulterior motives. Governor Akeredolu remains dedicated to serving the people of Ondo State and driving progress in our great state.”

The Ondo state division of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to persist with street demonstrations, calling on Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to resume his official position in Akure, the state capital.

The party emphasized that the protest would also advocate for Governor Akeredolu’s resignation if he fails to return to his responsibilities.

The spokesman for the Ondo PDP, Kennedy Peretei, spoke after security operatives stormed the Akure secretariat of the PDP to prevent a planned protest by the party.

The combined team of policemen and DSS officials were at the PDP secretariat with an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and over eight Hilux vehicles.

Many persons were prevented from gaining access to the PDP secretariat.

It was however, gathered, that the security operatives took the step to prevent a likely bloody clash between the PDP protesters and other persons who also planned to protest to support Governor Akeredolu.

Sources said some persons were arrested on Sunday night and released on Monday morning with a warning not to cause a crisis in the state.

Read Also: Akeredolu/Ayedatiwa feud: Ondo warns against bias, hypocrisy

Peretai said staff of the secretariat were denied access to their offices.

He called on the Inspector General of the Nigerian Police and the Ondo Commissioner of Police, to immediately withdraw their men from the party’s secretariat.

According to him, “However, it took frantic efforts of members of the PDP State Working Committee before the secretariat gate was opened amidst serious tension and confrontation.

“PhotoJournalists were threatened to stop recording anything lest their cameras were smashed. But as the PDP youths forced themselves into the secretariat, proceeding on a street protest would amount to daring the trigger-happy police to do their worst.

“As much as the officers tried to stop the protest, they failed because the youths displayed their banners and placards to Journalists who gained entrance into the secretariat.

“We cannot be intimidated by security agents who are paid with taxpayers’ money. We have the right to demand the whereabouts of the governor if he is missing in action”.

Another PDP Chieftain, Akintade Tayo, said the party members were embarrassed because security agencies were notified to avoid holding the party responsible for any breakdown of law and order.

“And we were asking them what they they were doing here but they said they don’t want us to enter. After some time, they allowed us access but some of our staff were asked to leave the office.

“All the youth that were supposed to participate in the peaceful protest were outside. All we’ve asked for is very simple. Where is Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu? He was elected the Governor of Ondo State.

“We can no longer continue like this. We are the voice of the people, we are the voice of the masses. We are saying, Mr Governor must resume back to duty, he can no longer govern us by proxy, and we can no longer be hearing that he’s one thing or the other when we’ve not sighted him.”

Ondo police spokesman, SP Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, said policemen were at the PDP Secretariat to maintain law and order.

She said the police received a letter that was not signed by any official of the PDP but by one Oluyi Tayo.

Odunlami-Omisanya stated: “There was nothing to show in the letter who wanted to protest. There was no number and we wanted to protect the PDP. We do not want any protest without known organisers. From our background check, we are not sure Tayo is actually the chairman of the PDP Youth Wing.”

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has directed Ondo Assembly to stay action on moves to impeach Deputy Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

National Chairman of the party, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, gave the directive on Friday when inaugurating a nine-man reconciliation committee on the political impasse between the Deputy Governor and his principal, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

The committee is headed by former Katsina Governor Aminu Bello Masari.

Inaugurating the committee, Ganduje emphasised the need to ensure a sound working relationship between the governor and his deputy.

Ganduje expressed optimism that the members of the committee with vast experience in public service have the wherewithal to achieve the goal.

“APC as a political party we are interested to see that there is a peaceful coexistence and a good working relationship between the governor of Ondo State and his order to see how we can solve this problem, it is important to set a reconciliation committee. A reconciliation must be comprised of people who have relevant experience, and cognitive knowledge on the issue before us,” he said.

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The terms and references of the Masari panel include: “To interface and engage with all contending parties gathering facts and circumstances surrounding the lingering impeachment process of the Ondo State Deputy Governor.

“To advise the Party on the most amicable ways of handling the lingering issues leading to the impeachment process of Ondo State Deputy Governor.

“To make necessary recommendations to the Party on resolution of issues and any other matter that may come up in the course of the assignment.

“The Committee has one week after its inauguration to submit its recommendation.”

Masari expressed assured that their intervention would resolve the issue between the governor and his deputy amicably.

Members of the conclude include Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Gboyega Oyetola, Sen Jack Tilley Gyado, Tanko Almakura, Martin Elechi, Martins Elechi and Mohammed Abubakar.

Following the ongoing political crisis in Ondo state over the purported impeachment plans against Deputy Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa by the House of Assembly, African Traditionalist Priest, Olupelumi Fagboyegun emphasized the need for stakeholders to prevent further violent protests in the state.

Fagboyegun, the founder of Isese Life Ministry in the United Kingdom, addressed the media in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, cautioning that the current crisis in Ondo has prompted various regions and towns in the state to assign labels to each other, which is detrimental to peaceful coexistence.

He said: “In 1963, political wrangling led to an uprising which my own father, Late Rev Canon Fagboyegun vigorously mediated but failed. It led to a total breakdown resulting in death within Owo and Usho town. It later escalated to what is known as ‘Operation Wet eh’ in Southwest and brought down the democratic government of Late Tafawa Balewa on 16th January 1966.”

He added that the same scenario played out in 1983 which led to the destruction of wealth and deaths of many residents of the state, cautioning that such a situation in Ondo state now can bring a democratic republic down because some military bandit may seize power.

Read Also: Ondo Assembly urges court to dismiss Aiyedatiwa suit

The traditional priest demanded that the ongoing planned impeachment process against Lucky Aiyedatiwa be stopped because he was jointly elected alongside Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

He added: “Akeredolu should address the whole state to distance himself from all the unruliness of the plotters that are hauling a barrage of insults at the deputy governor and Ilaje people.

“If all the suggestions failed, President Bola Tinubu should declare a State of Emergency in Ondo State before the issue degenerated into bloodshed that could lead to a faceless bandit in the military to topple the government.”

An Abuja-based lawyer, Donald Ayibiowu has urged the governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, to be magnanimous on the issue of the impeachment of his deputy, Lucky Ayedatiwa, and intervene with a view to resolving it.

He said that the governor needs to be circumspect by interrogating events during the period of his absence in order not to make the embattled deputy governor a scapegoat for what he wasn’t solely responsible for.

He noted that the governor does not need the distraction of impeachment in his strive to put the state back on the pedestal of development with his return from his recovery break.

Ayibiowu, in an open letter to the governor on Wednesday, September 27, said the impeachment move by the state’s House of Assembly against Aiyedatiwa is unnecessary, noting that Akeredolu was away, the state was left near rudderless by a combination of factors ranging from debilitating politicking, rumour mongering, and sycophancy among others.

He said what the state requires of Akeredolu on his return is leadership, restraint, caution and focus in the governance of the state.

Ayibiowu said: “One may be tempted to forgive the various dramatis persona in the light of the fact that your unexpected ailment may not have allowed you to give proper directives as to the governance structure type you want in your absence.

“Now that you are back and still recuperating in your Ibadan home, but in the light of your communication to the Ondo State House of Assembly that you have resumed work, one expects that you take to charge of affairs of our dear Ondo State, notwithstanding, the Shenanigans of family, friends and close political associates”.

Expressing shock at what he described as “pointless”, the ongoing impeachment of Aiyedatiwa, he noted that it “is the least the people expect from our dear state. I dare say that your deputy should not be made the ‘scapegoat’ for what the whole world can see glaringly as a ‘fuji house of commotion’ in your absence.

“To participate, consent or authorise his removal would mean that you have taken a side. Your Excellency, your approach should be to declare that ‘all have sinned and come short the glory of God’, because I believe you don’t even know who is right, wrong, true, good or bad.

“One of the news that sent shocks down the spine of Nigerians, particularly, we, the Ondo State indigenes, was the attempt by your amiable wife (The First Lady) to celebrate her 70th birthday why you were gasping for life on the hospital bed outside Nigeria.

“It took public denunciation for her to withdraw the published invitation of the event. What shall we say to that? You cannot be seen to want to adopt a one-sided narration of wrongdoing in your absence.

“This move will be misunderstood by most people; it will obstruct proper governance, and due administration and it will subject our state to another round of ignoble national odious and negative perception that comes with such exertion”.

He said if some of the power brokers within the state had scores to settle with Aiyedatiwa, they should rather do so privately and not fiddle with the peace and integrity of the state.

The lawyer added: “I wish to place on record that I have been your ardent supporter from your days as NBA President and I don’t know your deputy in person, I have never met him in person or by proxy, neither do I intend to hold brief for him.

“I believe he may have, or harbor gubernatorial ambition after your tenure but I will like to tell you that the deputy governor, as Acting Governor, if he was very desperate, could have sacked some of your appointees or could have radically altered the status quo in your absence.

Read Also: ‘Tinubu should intervene in Akeredolu/Ayedatiwa rift’

“But he didn’t do any of these things, I’m not implying that he is a saint, no one is either,” he said.

Ayibiowu however implored the governor to insist on due process and the rule of law if the impeachment process must proceed, saying, “Mr. Governor, the law is settled per the position of the Supreme Court in Inakoju v. Adeleke on the process and procedures for the removal of persons holding the Office of the Governor/Deputy Governor.

“You are a respected law scholar in Nigeria. Therefore, should it be politically expedient for your team to proceed with their action, counsel them to follow the law.

“So far, the public has not seen any cogent misconduct or clear-cut financial misappropriation or embezzlement attributable to the deputy governor to warrant this harassment.”

While urging the governor to call those involved in the impeachment process to order, Ayibiowu said the governor’s focus should be on finishing strong, pulling his team together, motivating them, and concentrating on delivering his campaign promises to the people.

A former Secretary General of Afenifere, Bashorun Seinde Arogbofa, has appealed to Ondo state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to forgive his didn’teputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, if the latter has done any wrong.

Arogbofa called on well-meaning Ondo citizens to rise up and quench ‘this gathering storm whose full explosion will not be healthy for the state.’

In a statement issued in Akure, Arogbofa said the founding fathers of the state would not be happy to see the current storm consume the state.

Arogbofa said the occasional cold war between “some of our governors and their deputies have exacerbated the socio-economic and political of their domains.”

He said: “My fear, nay our fear, is that the present gathering political storm between the governor and his deputy arising from alleged disloyalty, if not checked or properly handled, will lead to very bad blood, developmental set back, disruptive tendencies within the polity, and, in turn, have their unhealthy backlash on the civil service and the welfare of the common man.

“We don’t want this to happen. Indeed, the fragile economic and security situations in the country demand that it is better for the executive, the legislature and the judiciary in Ondo state to come nearer together and see how they can make the life of the people better.

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“The issue on ground needs a careful handling so as not to lead to any major crisis. Therefore, our Honourable members should remember they have their names to protect in whatever they do. They should be mindful of the verdict of history. We therefore call on them for fair play and justice to arrest the gathering storm.

“I know Arakunrin to be a good Christian. Let him forgive anyone who might have done anything wrong against him or against his office. Let him remember that except the Almighty God wants it, nobody can take the life of another person. God holds the key of life. So let him not glorify or flatter any perceived enemy who may be said to be after him.”