Ondo Crisis: Deputy Governor, Akeredolu’s aides reach truce after Tinubu’s intervention

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The factions in the political crisis in Ondo State reached a truce on Friday after a meeting brokered and hosted by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.

The highlight of their agreements was that the political status quo would be sustained in the state.

However, Deputy Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa was directed to submit an undated letter of resignation to President Tinubu, to guarantee that he would not disrupt the political configuration in the state while he runs the government until the full recovery of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

This means Mr Aiyedatiwa will keep his job and run the government, but he will not be declared acting governor, despite the continued incapacitation of Governor Akeredolu.

The president had summoned stakeholders in the state, including lawmakers, Deputy Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and party chiefs to Abuja in a bid to diffuse the tension created by the absence of the governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.

The meeting at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja lasted for several hours until about 11 p.m.

The meeting directed the the termination of the process for the removal of the deputy governor from office by the state House of Assembly and for “the status quo to remain.”

It was also resolved that the leadership of the House of Assembly would not be changed and that state activities should continue as before the conflict.

It was further resolved that the structure of the APC in the state would remain intact.

Shedding more light on the resolutions, the spokesperson of the House of Assembly, Olatunji Oshati, said, on Saturday morning, that the rationale behind the safeguards was to allay fears of victimisation by the deputy governor of members of the executive and legislature who stood against him during the crisis.

On the undated letter of resignation, Mr Oshati explained: “You know there were fears that the deputy governor, once reinstated, would begin to witch-hunt the others, so the president used it to allay the fears of everyone that no such thing will happen.”

He further noted that the meeting took care that its decisions do not rubbish the legacies of Mr Akeredolu.

Mr Akeredolu’s illness and absence had induced political maneuvering and created animosity between the deputy governor and his principal.

After Mr Akeredolu’s return from his medical leave in August, the state House of Assembly made a sudden move to remove the deputy governor whom they accused of “disloyalty” and “gross misconduct.”

But the deputy governor obtained an order of the Federal High Court that restrained the chief judge and the lawmakers from taking any further step in the process until the court had examined Mr Aiyedatiwa’s complaints.

The crisis has divided Mr Akeredolu’s cabinet and the assembly into factions, and slowed down governance in the state.

Mr Akeredolu has about a year left before the end of his tenure as governor. He was reelected to a second term in October 2020.