ONDO: Ilaje people protest against plot to impeach their son, Dep Gov Aiyedatiwa

The plot to impeach the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa took an ethnic colouration on Tuesday, as hundreds of indigenes of Ilaje community in the Ilaje Local Government Area of the state stormed Akure, the state capital, to protest against the ongoing impeachment process.

Ripples Nigeria reports that Aiyedatiwa, an Ilaje man, had been served the impeachment notice by the state House of Assembly and was expected to respond to all the allegations in the notice.

He, however claimed he had not been served, and secured a temporal relief on Tuesday when an Abuja court gave an interim injunction against the state House of Assembly.

The protesters, who gathered in front of the entrance of the Assembly gate with leaves in their hands, chanted various solidarity songs to express their support for the embattled deputy governor.

Some of them carried placards with inscriptions such as “Justice for Lucky, Lucky is innocent”; “Stop accusing him wrongly”; “Ilaje Nation stands with Aiyedatiwa”; “Aketi, Lucky is not your enemy,” and “Let Lucky finish his term,” among several others.

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They also alleged that the impeachment proceedings were a plot to take Aiyedatiwa out of the race of the 2024 governorship election in the state.

A leader of the protesters and founder of Ilaje World Congress, Mr Ola Juda, while speaking on the development, declared that the indigenes of Ilaje would not tolerate the impeachment move against Aiyedatiwa.

He said: “This gathering is the gathering of sons and daughters of Ilaje land; not only Ilaje, but we also have other sympathisers from Akure and Ese-Odo Idanre axis that have come together to protest against injustice and the battle that is going to erupt in Ondo State. The peace of Ondo State is being threatened by the actions of the Ondo State House of Assembly.

“For the past decades, an Ilaje man has never been a deputy governor but for the first time, we have a deputy governor, and yet powers that be have vowed that he will not finish his tenure. Aketi/Lucky mandate was given to both of them and if Aketi is still the governor of Ondo State, our mandate as the deputy governor remains.”

SlThough no member of the House came out to address the protesters, the Akure Area Commander of the Ondo State Police Command, Mr Nzota Chidi, who addressed the protesters, advised them to be peaceful in order not to be infiltrated by miscreants.

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