Palpable fear is the mood within rank and file followers of the Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa within the All Progressive Party in the state, following the unwrapped underground moves by influential members of the party to stop him from clinching his party’s ticket to contest the gubernatorial election due in the state later in the year.
The recently sworn in Aiyedatiwa, as governor of Ondo State, is believed to be interested in succeeding his late boss, Rotimi Akeredolu whom he deputized until the former breathed his last late last year.
Following the intrigues that played out between the then Deputy Governor and handlers of his late boss while his illness lasted, moves were made to prevent the Deputy from being sworn in as Acting governor, because according to multiple party sources, there were suspicions that the Deputy governor would work against the interest of the party and that of his boss in particular.
As events later turned out, Aiyedatiwa was sworn in as governor following the eventual demise of his boss. His perceived confrontational actions immediately after he became governor, however, set machinery on motion to ensure he does not occupy the Ondo State seat of power beyond the completion of his boss’s term in the next couple of months.
Sources informed ThePageNews that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, being the leader of the party was bombarded with barrages of petitions against Aiyedatiwa, as soon as he dismantled the structure left for him by his boss.
According to sources, different interest groups in the party had written petitions detailing why APC may lose the state to the opposition should Aiyedatiwa secure the party ticket.
A particular petition was quoted to have warned about litigations that may come up by the opposition following allegations of wife battery and certificate forgery earlier made against the governor.
Another petitioner was said to have alleged that the governor is an ‘outsider’ who does not belong to the APC trusted caucus, unlike a member of the Akeredolu cabinet also nursing gubernatorial ambition in the state.
A source who should know mentioned that the gubernatorial aspirant cabinet member, a close confidant of Akeredolu and also believed to have the hears of President Tinubu, was the main reason Aiyedatiwa hurriedly sacked the entire Akeredolu cabinet, to prevent him ( the aspirant ) from using the opportunity of being in government to fester his gubernatorial ambition.
The source further maintained that, it was because of the perceived edge the sacked cabinet member has over other aspirants in the state and especially, because of his popularity in the presidency and among the APC national leaders, that Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, who is also eyeing the gubernatorial seat, came out recently to say that the Presidency does not have a favourite among the gubernatorial aspirants in the state. The development, the source opined was “all in the bid to play down the reality of the obvious popularity of an aspirant within the APC decision makers fold”
ThePageNews also gathered that, recently, a group within the party wrote letters to various caucuses in the Ondo APC, highlighting why it will be difficult for the party to fly, with an Aiyedatiwa candidacy.
They also expressed the need for the party to,as a matter of urgency, come together to decide who will fly the party’s flag in the coming gubernatorial election.
The group, it was gathered, was provoked into writing the letter, by Aiyedatiwa’s decision to pick a deputy without due consultation and the perceived marginalisation of the party chairman, Adetimehin.
According to our source, it was the last letter of alarm, which necessitated members of the Ondo APC caucus in the House of Representatives, to write an open letter on Friday , to President Tinubu, detailing a number of the governor’s misdeeds and how this has broken down the camaraderie enjoyed among party members in the state before now.
The letter was signed by six members of the caucus. They include; Adesida Abiodun Cornelius Aderin (Akure North/South); Timehin Adelegbe (Owo/Ose); Festus Adefiranye Ayodele (Ileoluji- Okeigbo/Odigbo); Ojogo Donald Kimikanboh (Ilaje/ Ese- Odo); Odimayo Okunjimi John (Okitipupa/Irele) and Adegboyega Adefarati (Akoko south West/ South East) federal constituencies.
According to the lawmakers, what is going on is undermining the APC in the state because many agreements reached have allegedly been broken while Aiyedatiwa is allegedly working to undo all what the late governor did in the state.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on the subject matter, the leader of the caucus, Adesida called on President Tinubu to wade into the matter and save the face of the ruling party, particularly with the governorship election due in November.
He accused Gov Aiyedatiwa of taking official decisions that gave him away as a man with little or no respect for the legacies left behind by the late Akeredolu.
Adesida said, “The deputy governor appointed by Mr Aiyedatiwa is a well-known political adversary of the late governor. Despite hailing from Owo, they never saw eye to eye during the late governor’s lifetime. Olajide Adelami caused a great deal of trouble for the late Akeredolu during his bid for re-election in 2020 to which you were committed.
“Furthermore, it has become common knowledge in the state that Mr Aiyedatiwa has aligned himself with every disgruntled and established political enemy of the late Akeredolu. As an example, the appointment of Barrister Kola Olawoye, a suspended APC member and former Attorney General of the state, as Aiyedatiwa’s campaign coordinator in Owo has been widely condemned by loyal party members, particularly in Owo.
“Mr President, the governor has created a significant divide and caused deep discord among party members.
” Currently, the party’s state Chairman, Ade Adetimehin, is being marginalised and sidelined. To make matters worse, Governor Aiyedatiwa has resorted to sending his proxies to warn the chairman and pressure him into resigning. It is a bad situation, sir.
The lawmakers further urged Tinubu to “prevent Ondo State from falling into the hands of the opposition due to internal conflicts,” adding that “urgent need for decisive and unifying leadership becomes more evident than ever.”
