Controversy broke out in Ondo State yesterday following All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Senator Abdullahi Adamu’s comment on Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s health status.
Adamu, during a meeting with APC state chairmen at the party secretariat in Abuja on Monday, in a comment after delivering his speech, prayed for the safe return of abducted Ekiti State APC chairman Paul Omotosho and speedy recovery of Governor Akeredolu “who is incapacitated by sickness and getting treatment abroad”.
The incapacitation comment raised dust in the state, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) asking the state government to come clean on the health status of the state’s number one citizen.
Ondo PDP spokesman, Kennedy Peretei, said in a statement: “One is tempted to think that those responsible for the information management of Governor Akeredolu have made nonsense of their assignment, keeping people in dark until a spatula is put in their mouths to speak.
“Even if Akeredolu is ‘extremely incapacitated’, is it Senator Abdullahi that should announce it to the world?
“Who gave him the briefing from which he spoke? What was he insinuating with his ‘extremely incapacitated’ narrative? We leave all of that in the realm of speculation since those concerned cannot effectively communicate with the people of Ondo on what is happening to their governor.
“Talking seriously, the people of Ondo across party lines are genuinely praying for Akeredolu to return to his desk soonest.
“Only a few have openly declared that the governor’s return may be injurious to their aspiration and hence secretly wish the governor dead.
“Unfortunately, in spite of medical postulations, only God knows who will be alive in the next minute.”
The state government, Acting Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, APC National Secretary Iyiola Omisore, APC National Vice Chairman Isaacs Kekemeke and the State APC Chairman Ade Adetimehin stoutly denied that the governor “is in extreme incapacitation”, according to a newspaper report. They said Adamu was wrongly quoted.
Aiyedatiwa said: “Mr Governor appreciates your prayers and good wishes for himself and the State, across the board.
“He is in high spirits, recuperating and being expected back in office to continue with his laudable service to the state, as soon as he is certified medically fit by his doctors.
“I have been in touch with him, the latest being on Sunday, 9th July 2023, when he expressed appreciation to me and other State Executive Council Members for holding the fort while he is away.
“Consequent upon the need to have more rest and in furtherance to his respect for and commitment to the rule of law, Mr Governor has transmitted power to my office as Acting Governor in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
“We, therefore, assure the people of Ondo State that there is no gap in governance.
“The government of Ondo State is on course, construction works are going on across the State and other official activities are also running well in line with standard practices.
“The security and welfare of the people being the primary constitutional mandate of government are enjoying top priority.
“The state government will not at any time renege on this important obligation to the people.
“We urge you all to continue to be law-abiding, peaceful and endeavour to pursue your legitimate businesses and activities unhindered.”
Ondo Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, in a statement in Akure, said the APC National Chairman urged all those present at the meeting to pray for his quick return.
“It, therefore, smacks of mischief and unabashed abandonment of professional ethics for a reporter to present this gross misrepresentation, a mischievous twist, as news. At no time did the Chairman mention that the Governor was in a state of ‘extreme incapacitation’.
“He is, evidently, not in any critical state that should warrant this clearly reprehensible conduct as he still sent a post to the Executive Council Committee platform yesterday.
“Members of the public are advised to ignore this news as the contents therein exist in the realm of the imagination of workers of iniquity.
“Mr. Governor is not incapacitated. He will return to his duty as soon as the doctors certify him fully fit to do so.”
Kekemeke: Adamu’s comment twisted
Kekemeke and Adetimehin said Adamu did not make the statement credited to him.
The duo said they were present at the meeting of the NWC, where the statement was reportedly made.
They said Akeredolu’s name came up at the meeting when the National Chairman expressed his sympathy with the state chairmen of the party on the abduction of their colleague, the Ekiti state APC Chairman, Paul Omotoso.
Kekemeke, in a statement, said Adamu ‘merely extended his solidarity with the people of Ondo on the foreign medical trip of the governor and prayed for his quick recovery and recuperation’.
He said: “It is sad that a genuine empathy and prayer by the National Chairman for a Governor on the platform of his party was sensationalised and has now become a subject of discourse.
“I have chosen to put the records straight because I was at the meeting. Our party’s National Publicity Secretary and his Deputy were not at the meeting.
“The National Chairman did not and could not have made such comment like ‘Akeredolu in State of Extreme Incapacitation’, but only genuinely prayed for the Governor’s quick recovery.”
Adetimehin, who prayed to God to forgive fifth columnists for peddling falsehood, said Adamu only called for prayers for Akeredolu and never mentioned anything about being incapacitated.
