Ondo Crisis: Help Determine Akeredolu’s Health Status, Group Tells Masari Committee

An Ondo State All Progressives Congress (APC) pressure group, Sunshine Progressives Forum (SPF), has called on Aminu Masari-led APC Reconciliation Committee to principally determine the state of health of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and the political crisis between him and his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

In bid to reconcile Akeredolu and Aiyedatiwa, the National Chairman of APC,  Abdulahi Ganduje last Friday inaugurated a nine-man committee headed by former Governor of Katsina state, Aminu Masari to resolve the crisis.

In a statement issued in Akure yesterday, the group, through its chairman, Elder Samuel Olusanmi, and secretary, Hon. Ifedayo Jamiu, said rather than focus alone on reversing the impeachment plot against  Aiyedatiwa, the committee should task the state House of Assembly to find out if Governor Akeredolu, going by his state of health, can still continue in office.

“Sentiments apart, the truth of the matter is that, there is no leadership in Ondo State, because the House of Assembly has stripped the deputy governor of his acting governor status, having all rushed down to Ibadan, Oyo State to receive a phoney letter from Governor Akeredolu that he had resumed duty.

“ Whereas, ever since, the governor has been holed up in Ibadan, not touching the soil of Ondo State, leaving the state at the mercy of some cabal who are all over, detouring to the governor’s wife and son who himself is a senior political appointee,” the group lamented.

Specifically, the SPF urged the Masari Committee to raise a medical team to determine if Akeredolu is still medically fit to continue as governor, and to also ask the governor’s medical team to witness the process.

The group, in the same vein, begged Governor Akeredolu to “go on historic retirement”, noting that all eyes are on him if he pretended to be well, when the reverse is the case.

“Already, the masses of Ondo State are suffering and they don’t know who to look up to, for leadership and direction. Rather, the cabal, composed by some powerful cabinet members, are the ones dishing out orders on behalf of a far-away governor and are fully in charge of all funds accruing to the Ondo State Government,” the group further alleged.

The SPF, however, called on people of good conscience in the country, starting from President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to intervene, “so that the cabal that have held Ondo State by the jugular will not rubbish the good legacies of Governor Akeredolu, who but for his state of health, had done a lot to transform the state  in terms of infrastructure and had also improved on social security.”

“We will forever remember the legacies of Governor Akeredolu, especially in terms of massive road constructions cutting across the 18 local government areas, and for initiating the South-west Security Network known as Amotekun. Therefore, let Aiyedatiwa continue with the good work of his good boss,” the group said.

The group also commended the leadership style of  Ganduje, the immediate past governor of Kano State, whose intervention in the Ondo State leadership crisis was well timed.

“It thus urged Ganduje to go the extra mile and ensure that the gains recorded by the APC in the state are not frittered away, “through ongoing hanky-panky games of ambitious cabal members.”