Ondo: Aiyedatiwa’s Camp Cautions Ex- Commissioner On Utterances
Piqued by what it describes as campaigns of calumny against the governor of Ondo State, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the governor’s camp on has cautioned the immediate past finance commissioner of the state, Mr. Wale Akinterinwa, to desist from fanning the embers of discord by guarding his tongue.
In a statement by the Director of Security, Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation (LACO-FOOTSOLDIERS) , Dr. Oladipupo Okeyomi, the group condemned disparaging statements said by the former finance commissioner among which was that Aiyedatiwa was brought into government by the wife of the late former Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
Akinterinwa also said he was the anointed candidate of the late Akeredolu, to succeed the latter as the next governor.
But reacting through his publicist, Prince Kayode Fasua, Okeyomi advised “Akinterinwa and his co-travellers to allow the people of Ondo State enjoy the prevailing peace and progress, by desisting from provoking statements.”
“These are indeed reckless statements borne out of belicosity; to the effect that the dissolution of the state executive council naturally led to his sack as finance commissioner.
“To put the record straight, when Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu secured the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket in 2016, a three-man panel headed by Mrs. Jumoke Anifowoshe-Ajasin, was set up to select a running mate for him, and at the end, Lucky Aiyedatiwa ‘s name came first on the merit list.
“But for other considerations, Akeredolu dumped the list and picked Mr. Agboola Ajayi who eventually became deputy governor upon their victory.
“However, in 2020, when Akeredolu had issues with Ajayi, he solemnly went and picked the 2016 list which Aiyedatiwa topped, and that was how Aiyedatiwa became his running mate, and ultimately, deputy governor, ” Okeyomi recalled.
He stressed that disparaging Aiyedatiwa as a candidate of the former governor’s wife was a figment of Akinterinwa’s imagination.
Besides, he sneered at Akinterinwa’s claim that Akeredolu had anointed him to be next governor, noting that it is public knowledge that the late former governor once said he was neutral and a ‘father’ to all aspirants wishing to succeed him.
Okeyomi thus advised Akinterinwa to face his political aspiration and desist from insulting other contestants in the governorship race, stressing that “we don’t want any form of violence in our dear state.”
