Presidency, APC National body may not save Aiyedatiwa

Olusesan Laoye

The situation in Ondo State indicates clearly that the embattled Deputy governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, may eventually not get out of the impeachment saga, which he is currently facing. Last week, Gov. Akeredolu rejected his apology, which his had tended to him during meeting with the committee set to mediate the crisis.

Aiyedatiwa’s trouble heightened, when he became the Acting Governor, following the illness of the incumbent, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, which forced him to seek a three months medical leave in Germany.

It was while he was away that Aiyedatiwa acted in full capacity as the de-facto governor, which made him to exercised some powers, that put him in more trouble and called for his impeachment.

Although his problem in government did not start as the acting governor, it began before Akeredolu ceded power to him. Aiyedatiwa was accused along with others, for being diabolically involved in the sickness of Akeredolu. He was also accused of being over ambitious and wanted power at all cost.

That was the reason Akeredolu handing over to him became controversial. It was a situation which got the entire APC and the cabinet in the state sharply divided.

That situation affected Aiyedatiwa’s three month on the saddle while those loyal to Akeredolu, during that period, further intensified their campaign against him.

The animosities against him was so intensed to the extent that Governor Akeredolu, who was briefed of his alleged game plan, when he returned from his medical leave in Germany, felt betrayed and was no more interested in working with a deputy he could no longer trust.

Despite the allegations of being disloyal, Aiyedatiwa, glaringly, made some moves to prove his innocence, but all his efforts proved abortive.

Even the move by the Presidency through the National Chairman of the party, Abdulahi Ganduje to save him, has not helped matters.

The National body of the party, set up a seven man committee headed by the former governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Aminu Masari, to look into the matter. And just as the committee was about to carry out his assignments, Akeredolu said he was not a party to that arrangement.

The governor, instead urged his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa to defend himself against the allegation levelled against him by the state House of Assembly, while reacting to the apology issued by his deputy.
Aiyedatiwa had expressed regrets, saying that he believed the negative reports, which have been trailing the crisis in government and the party in the last few months, must have caused a serious embarrassment to the governor.
Governor Akeredolu in a statement, signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties and Strategy, Doyin Adebowale, said he does not meddle in the affairs of the state House of Assembly.
According to the statement by Adebowale “The Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, does not meddle in the affairs of the House of Assembly of Ondo State, There has never been any time when the governor “persuaded” the “distinguished members of Ondo State House of Assembly to embrace the political solution offered” by the All Progressives Congress (APC), “in the face of an impeachment move against” the deputy governor, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
“The best respect that all elected and appointed officials of the government can display to the people should find expression in the unconditional reverence for the institution, which represents them.
“The Deputy Governor referred to the allegations of malfeasance levelled against him by the House of Assembly as ‘all sorts of lies against my person in the media’. It is only decent that we advise him to take this defence to the same House of Assembly, which came up with 14 allegations of gross misconduct against him.
“This is the only course of honour at this moment,” Governor Akeredolu advised his Deputy.

With this new dimension into the matter, it is clear that both the governor and the State Assembly are hell bent in carrying out the impeachment process against Aiyedatiwa.

This, it was said, informed the State Assembly, redirecting the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Olusegun Odusola to set up a panel that would now probe the allegations of misconduct and abuse of office leveled against the deputy governor.

The chief Judge had earlier ignored the directives of the State Assembly, due to the Court injunction, Aiyedatiwa got at the Federal High Court in Abuja and a court action in Akure.

The state Assembly, while revisiting the move to impeach Aiyedatiwa, argued that it has now become imperative for the Chief Judge (CJ) of the state, to constitute a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct against Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the Deputy governor.

The House told the Chief Judge that the ex parte order restricting him has expired, noting that he is enabled by law to constitute the panel.
Last month, September, a Federal High court in Abuja restrained the Ondo House of Assembly from impeaching Aiyedatiwa and also prohibited Rotimi Akeredolu, the governor of the state, from nominating a new deputy.

In a statement, just released,the Assembly called on the CJ to constitute the panel without any further delay.

According to the statement, “the Ondo state House of Assembly had on 3rd October, 2023 requested your lordship to constitute a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct levelled by the House against the deputy-governor of Ondo state, His Excellency, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, in line with Section 188 (5) of the constitution of Nigeria,”
The House went on “In a reply letter dated October 6, 2023, your lordship acknowledged and quoted Section 188 (10) of the constitution which states that ‘No proceedings or determination of the house of assembly or the panel or any matter relating so such proceedings or determination shall be entertained or questioned in any court.’
“Your lordship, however opined that until the ex parte order made on September 26, 2023, by the Abuja judicial division of the federal high court restraining you from setting up the panel was either vacated or set aside, your hands would continue to be tied.
“The said order has now elapsed and/or become extinguished by the operation of the law, in view of the clear provisions of Order 26 Rule 10 (2) & (3) of the Federal High court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, which states as follows.
“Consequently, the 10th Ondo State House of Assembly hereby calls on your lordship to kindly constitute the Panel without any further delay.”
With the injunction order now vacated, and the new directive of the State Assembly, the Chief Judge of the state may no longer have any where to hide but obey the State Assembly.

This means that Aiyedatiwa too may not escape being shown the way out of government, if eventually found guilty of all his offenses by the panel set to probe him.

For over a year now that the health of Akeredolu has failed, which did not allow him the strength to run the affairs of the state regularly because he has been going abroad for treatment intermittently and which necessitated his three months medical leave, that gave room for his Deputy to act as governor, Ondo state has been in turmoil.

While Akeredolu was away there were series of insinuations, against his Deputy, which further resulted in making him inactive, without proper access to relevant documents and other things as the acting governor.

Loyalists of Akeredolu tagged him as over ambitious and even declared without mincing words, that he wanted Akeredolu dead.

This was the situation, said to have been presented to Akeredolu on his return, that eventually convinced him that Aiyedatiwa was no more needed in his government.

It would be recalled that the National chairman of the party, when he held a meeting with the stakeholders in the State and at the National level, in Abuja, said that, there was the need for the warring groups to soft pedal, in order not to cause further confusion and derailment of the party in Ondo State. He assured that the reconciliation team of Masari would ensure that there is peace.

Both the majority leader, Hon. Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi and the chairman House Committee on Information, Hon. Olatunji Oshati, talked in the same vein that although the National body has temporarily stepped into the situation, the only way for Aiyedatiwa to escape sack, is for him to back down on all the litigations against the House and the government over his impeachment.

But up till now, there was no sign that Aiyedatiwa made moves to get out of the courts. The substantive suits are still there pending.

As the impeachment move is still dangling on Aiyedatiwa, both his loyalists and those of Akeredolu are at logger heads and have continued to engage in war of wards.

This has also brought reactions from different groups, concerned citizens, elder statesmen, and notable leaders in Ondo State and outside it.

According to a Civil Rights group, African Civil society, with the uncertainty in the state right now, there was the need for the State Assembly to apply caution in its action, in order not to put the state in chaos. It argued that the Assembly must adhered to the rule of law over the move to impeach Aiyedatiwa.

The organization also stated that the Assembly should not allow itself to be used by those with sinister motives to disrupt the peace in Ondo State and the entire government of Akeredolu.

Another group, the Ondo Redemption Front, stated that it was concerned about the stability of the State and as such would want all the warring parties to tow the line of honour by giving peace a chance for the progress of the State.

An elder statesman in the country, and leader of Afenifere, Basorun Seinde Arogbofa who also commented on the on-going development in Ondo State, pointed out that the two groups in question should be very careful in order not to heat up the polity in the State.

The Afenifere leader believed that the governor and his Deputy should not allow any third party to come between them, while he urged them to continue and end their tenure with the cordiality they started the government together.

However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is of the opinion that rather than Aiyedatiwa being, impeached, it should be governor Akeredolu. It argued that since he came back from his three months official medical leave, he has not shown up in office to direct the affairs of the State.

He was accused of running the affairs of the State from his house in Ibadan.

The Publicity Secretary of the party, Kenny Peretei argued that the activities of government have been grounded, “no Executive Council meeting has been held and the affairs of the State have been on auto pilot, since the ill health of governor Akeredolu.”

But his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunji debunked all the insinuations concerning the governor, arguing that there was no truth in all the allegations that the activities of government, have been grounded.

While the debate and arguments about the relationship between Akeeedolu and his Deputy, concerning the impeachment move is going on, it was believed by some people in the state, that the governor himself was the architect of the crisis going on in the State, for over promoting Aiyedatiwa over above other interests concerns.