Ondo deputy governor, Aiyedatiwa pledges loyalty to Akeredolu

The Ondo State Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has dismissed rumours of a rift with his principal.

There are insinuations that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu no longer sees eye-to-eye with his deputy, a few days after he returned to the country after a three-month vacation in Germany.

Akeredolu had on Tuesday evening sacked the media aides attached to Aiyedatiwa’s office.

He also disbanded the media crew attached to the office.

In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunde, the governor directed the Ministry of Information and Orientation to provide adequate coverage for the activities of the deputy’s governor office henceforth.

However, in a statement issued by his media aide, Kenneth Odusola, the deputy governor described the rumour of feud between the two men as “pure fabrications” aimed at denting his image.

He declared his loyalty to Akeredolu, saying “no amount of fabricated lies would change that.”

Aiyedatiwa stressed that the people behind the rumours were threatened by his relationship with the governor and the goodwill he enjoys with the people of the state.

The statement read: “The lies would have been ignored but I owe it a duty to prevent the public from being deceived into believing the same falsehoods being repeated and recycled in different forms by those whose sole intention is to soil the image of the man who they see as a threat to their political interests.

“There is a need to remind the public that this is a continuation of the blackmail started by these same characters some months ago, with false stories planted in some media outlets against the Deputy Governor.

“However, since those lies did not yield the result they envisaged, the blackmailers have returned with fake stories about disloyalty, aimed at causing disaffection between him and the Governor.

“Many stakeholders have commended the Deputy Governor for the way he handled State affairs while he was Acting Governor, despite all his detractors did to provoke him into taking drastic actions.

“He avoided their booby traps and they tripped on their banana peels. Against their expectations, the Deputy Governor was in constant touch with his principal on official State matters, so there was no gap between them.

“Those behind the falsehoods being peddled around had planned that these concocted lies about disloyalty and impeachment would irritate Mr. Governor and his family to land a devastating blow on the Deputy Governor ahead of the coming governorship election in the State.”

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