Ondo Deputy Governor/ CP’s altercation goes viral as Agboola Ajayi dumps APC.
– Steve Ovirih.
The Ondo state Deputy Governor, Hon . Alfred Agboola Ajayi has dumped All Progressives Congress (APC) over the weekend and has returned to his first love and former Political party, People’s Democratic party, PDP.
He defected to the PDP on Sunday, the 21st of June at his home ward, Kiribo in Ese Odo Local Government Area , Ondo south senatorial district. The Deputy Governor and his horde of supporters arrived to the warm reception of Kiribo people on Sunday with loud aplumb , a rousing welcome which indicated the popularity of the Kiribo born politician.
It has been a wild speculation over the past few weeks that Mr. Agboola Ajayi was putting finishing touches to his grand arrangement to jump boat and abandon his boss and Principal, His Excellency, Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu over some unresolved political differences . His defection on Sunday confirmed the rumour that he had been having a running battle with the Governor of Ondo state and had lately lost the confidence the APC Chief executive of Ondo state once reposed in him as a Deputy Governor.
Earlier on Saturday, the Ondo state Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi and his aides were detained at the State House, Alagbaka Akure as the Deputy Governor was making efforts to leave the Government House with his convoy and in the company of his retinue of aides.
In a video which had since gone viral on the social media, the Deputy Governor and the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bolaji Salami were seen engaging in a hot verbal exchange. The Ondo CP in the video was heard saying that the Deputy Governor’s planned defection for the next day has been reported to him and in his response , the Deputy Governor queried the CP’s right to infringe on his fundamental human right of association, wondering when it has become the constitutional responsibility of the police to forestall his defection. However, the State Police Command has debunked the opinion flowing in the social space that the state CP delayed, detained or arrested the Deputy Governor at the State House over the weekend concerning his defection bid. In a statement released by the command, the police had said what they simply did at the state house was to ensure an inventory was properly carried out on the Deputy Governor and his aides before their eventual exit from the government facility.
Hon. Agboola had said he was leaving the State House as he could no longer guarantee his security anymore.
With the defection of the state Deputy Governor from the All Progressives Congress under which joint ticket he and his principal were given a joint Mandate in 2016, it is left to be seen whether he will resign from the present administration.
The Deputy Governor, Hon. Agboola Ajayi has moved on to the opposition, PDP with the intention to contest against his boss from the rival party in Ondo state. It is speculated that 12 members of the State House of Assembly will be pitching their tent with the defected Deputy Governor.
