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Ondo acting governor’s uneasy crown
It is no secret that Ondo State governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, is indisposed. It is also a matter of public knowledge that he has since transmitted power to his deputy, Lucky Aladetiwa, in order to take care of his health.
What is unknown to most people is the toll the governor’s absence is taking on governance in the state on account of the unhealthy relationship between the Acting Governor and the state’s commissioners and other members of the executive council (EXCO).
Governance in the state has literally screeched to a halt since Aladetiwa took over as Acting Governor on June 12 as members of the state’s EXCO are said to have avoided the weekly executive council meeting where crucial decisions on governance are supposed to be taken partly because they believe that his antecedents as a family man puts a question mark on his leadership qualities and partly because of fear that his reign as deputy governor could erode Akeredolu’s enviable legacies in the state.
The Acting Governor is said not to have an enviable record on the home front following reports that his wife has had to endure very tough times with him, having been battered by her husband on several occasions at the slightest provocation. So much so that Akeredolu’s wife, Betty, had to lead other prominent women in the state on a protest against Aladetiwa recently for allegedly turning his wife into a punching bag.
While Aladetiwa has since denied the allegation and waved it off as the handiwork of his detractors, there are fears among the members of the state’s EXCO that Aladetiwa could work towards dismantling Akeredolu’s legacies because there had been no love lost between them. The situation has left the state in a quandary with the acting governor a mere general without an army.