*Warns lawmakers, advises Aiyedatiwa
A prominent politician in Ondo State,
Benson Enikuomehin, has called on the wife of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, Mrs. Becky Akeredolu, to bring the governor out from where she is hiding him.
He also warned her to be careful in her action in order not to set the state on fire “because of her determination to hold on to power at all cost”.
Enikuomehin, a lawyer, who spoke with journalists in Lagos, said the governor’s wife and others who hide him cannot do the work of the governor, “even if they keep him till eternity”.
The Ondo State born lawyer and former National Commissioner representing Ondo State in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), said the people of the state didn’t vote for Akeredolu in Ibadan, Oyo State where he is being kept.
“It is natural for one to fall sick. When he was campaigning, he never told us in Ondo State that the Government House at Alagbaka would be annexed to Ibadan. We, Ondo indigenes, want to see our governor. We want him to address us. Our Governor’s Office is not in Ibadan.
“It is not that we are insensitive to his health, I pray for him when he was abroad, while in Nigeria, I also prayed for him. We have the right to know his state of health and his whereabouts. I pray God to show Akeredolu mercy but Ondo State is bigger than his wife, children and other people acting for him. Anytime they leave office, Ondo State will continue to exist and be prosperous.
“When Ondo State was created, we have had different civilian governors and military administrators who ruled and are gone, this is to tell you that Ondo State is bigger than any individual and group of people who call themselves cabal today in Akeredolu’s government.
“We had Baba Adefarati, Agagu, Mimiko. They left office and the state remains. The wife of the governor should know that she’s not the governor, but a wife and she should be careful not to set the state on fire.
“When Akeredolu was going on medical leave, he never wrote that he would annex the Government Office to Ibadan. Why Ibadan? That’s what Ondo people want to know and that’s what I am asking his wife and other cabals in his government who took him to Ibadan. If his deputy couldn’t see, how do you expect an ordinary citizen like me and other indigenes to see him?”
“Mrs. Becky Akeredolu is a wife, not the governor, she should not put our Sunshine State into crisis with the game she’s playing to control the government.
“In normal circumstances when a governor is not available either sick or death, constitutionally, it is the deputy governor that has the right to take charge of the affairs of the state, but the reverse is the case in Ondo State, instead the House of Assembly wants to impeach him.
“When the governor returned from his medical leave, what I expected him to have done is to thank the people of the state and his deputy. It was clear to me that the governor was brought back for the purpose of the impeachment of his deputy.
“Even when he wrote to the Assembly that he had resumed, did he resume? No! It is the responsibility of the governor to write back and said I am back. Unfortunately, where is the governor? What I expected from him is that since God has brought him back alive, whatever lucky Aiyedatiwa must have done to him, either right or wrong, he should have just scolded him and then continue with their government.
“The lawmakers initially said they were not impeaching the deputy governor, but suddenly, they turned around and started shouting that they were going to impeach him. It shows someone is behind the Assembly members.
“One of the charges against the deputy governor was that he wanted to topple his boss and take charge of the government. The speaker and all members of the Ondo State House of Assembly should let peace reign and it should be a paramount thing in their dealings, because whatever they do today, will become history and it will be written for them forever. What we are experiencing in the state now also happened during the regime of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. I also want to remind the Assembly members that Ondo State is not for one person alone, they should also be careful in whatever they are doing.
“My dear First Lady should learn from the wife of the former Governor of Taraba State, when her husband plane crashed, she didn’t hide the governor. Mrs Akeredolu should be careful. How many deputies will Akeredolu drop before he finishes his administration? He sent Agboola Ajayi away and it’s now the turn of Lucky Aiyedatiwa. The truth must be told, I am not saying Aiyedatiwa is a saint, he has his own shortcomings but they should work together to have a better ending.
“Aiyedatiwa also has his own shortcomings, whenever I call him, he will never pick his calls, we are from the same ward. He is lucky to be chosen as the deputy governor, I expected him to have learnt some things from those who have been in politics before him. He should take their counsel, he shouldn’t shine more than his boss.
“When I was appointed a Senior Special Assistant on Oil and Gas to the governor, when I noticed that I was not seeing what I wanted, I had no option than to leave.
“Section 188 of Nigerian Constitution, sub section 1 tells us the procedures to follow whenever you want to impeach. One quarter or one third of the House must rise and a letter must be served to the deputy governor personally. You cannot serve his personal assistant because he’s not the one to be impeached, that procedures was not followed by the Assembly. That was why his lawyer went to get substitution order to stop them. I am a stakeholder in the Ondo State project because peace in the state is very paramount to me and other indigenes”.
