Sketchy details have emerged on why Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu rejected the apology tendered by his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
A top government official said the apology tendered by Aiyedatiwa does not contain a specific interest in conflict.
The official said Aiyedatiwa failed to carry out proper underground lobbying and meeting specific stakeholders in the state before tendering the apology.
It was gathered that Governor Akeredolu informed his inner circle that he was shocked to hear that Aiyedatiwa had apologised to him through a press conference.
Another government official said Governor Akeredolu was earlier peeved that Aiyedatiwa travelled to Abuja without informing him and after he (Aiyedatiwa) returned to Akure, pictures flooded the social media of Aiyedatiwa in his office.
The official said the reason Aiyedatiwa tendered the apology was because some northern APC leaders he relied on to save him turned around to ask him to resign after they heard from Akeredolu.
He said: “When we heard about the press conference, we thought it was going to be in line with what Aiyedatiwa has told people that he was going to fight dirty but he changed his mind when pictures of Aketi came out that he was not bedridden or not on a wheelchair. That was the reason for the apology. He was clever by half.
“Nobody can point to anything he said in the apology tendered. Will the people not question the Assembly if they dropped the investigation based on the apology?
“Mr Governor said he did not hear from Aiyedatiwa. Moreover, Aiyedatiwa made it look like it was Aketi who directed the Assembly to impeach him.
“Aiyedatiwa would have made an effort to reach Aketi. He would have done his underground work but suddenly we saw an apology after seeing pictures of Aketi alive.
“Those people in Abuja he went to pledge loyalty to tell him to resign but he did not tell his supporters what transpired.”
Aiyedatiwa had said at a press conference, “I tendered this reserved apology because of the embarrassment and discomforts he faces. The event has brought all kinds of negative news. He deserves the unreserved apology. I am at the centre. That is exactly what I am tendring this apology for.
“We have continued to read in the media, all sorts of lies fabricated to create crisis just for the purpose of. The recent impeachment attempt by the election House of Assembly and the ensuing reactions have further created division and chaos, with my loyalty to Mr. Governor being questioned.
“It is, therefore, imperative for me to put on record that there has never been any issue between Mr. Governor and myself and I have never undermined him. Political actors have only taken advantage of his absence to create a non-existent crisis for their own selfish interests.
“I am profoundly grateful to Mr. Governor for his intervention and role in persuading the distinguished members of Ondo State House of Assembly to embrace the political solution offered by our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the face of the impeachment move.
“It is in reference to all of the above that I tender my unreserved apologies to Mr. Governor for the embarrassment and discomfort that the political chaos of these past months has caused him and the good people of Ondo State.”
Governor Akeredolu who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties, Dr. Doyin Odebowale, said the only course of honour for Aiyedatiwa was for him to defend allegations of gross misconduct levelled by the State House of Assembly.
Akeredolu explained that he was not averse to embracing, cautiously, any seeming overtures impelled by genuine contriteness
He said any snide suggestion of ‘meddlesomeness in the business of the second arm of government by the Governor is repudiated with vehemence. Mr Governor cannot descend too low.’
According to the statement, “The good people of Ondo State are too discerning to be hoodwinked with dissembling equivocation. Keen observers of events, as they have been unfolding in the State, cannot miss the import of the malicious intents, insensitive posturing and diabolical projections of the last six months in the Government of the Sunshine State.
“The major sponsors of these acts of subterfuge should be ashamed of themselves. The very suggestion that these brazen and shameless acts of moral turpitude happened without the knowledge of the projected, most prominent beneficiary and active enabler of this disgrace, should make meaning to those who towed this path of infamy.
“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.”
