2024:Akinterinwa, Odu send emissaries to Aiyedatiwa, to drop ambition
As pressure mounts on the Governor of Ondo State, Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa, to dissolve the State Executive Council, two prominent members of the cabinet eyeing the governorship seat have expressed readiness to drop their ambition.
The Secretary to the State Government, Princess Oladunni Odu and the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa, have both offered to drop their governorship ambition if Aiyedatiwa does not dissolve the Cabinet.
Sources disclosed that Odu was the first to reach out to the Governor to pledge her loyalty and promise to drop her gubernatorial ambition for a stay in the cabinet as SSG.
The SSG was said to have so far be cooperating with the Governor to show her readiness for peace and a stay in the EXCO till the end of the current tenure early next year.
It was gathered that while he continues to pursue his governorship ambition by meeting with party stakeholders and others, Akinterinwa was said to have sent a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to deliver a message to Aiyedatiwa.
The message, it was learnt, was that he would consider dropping his ambition to support the reelection of the Governor should the cabinet remain as it is currently constituted.
“Well, I can confirm to you that behind the scene, a lot of members of the cabinet are pledging their loyalty in order to stay. Some of them have reached out to the Governor through traditional, religious and political leaders.
As it stands now, nobody knows what the Governor wants to do with the cabinet. He is keeping that decision close to his chest and that is why there is confusion everywhere.
“It is true that those with governorship ambition are reaching out to him for truce. Even when they are maintaining different posture in town and holding political meetings, they are leaving that option open and ready to drop the ambition”, a source said.
This is coming as many people have expected both Odu and Akinterinwa to resign their appointments due to the roles they played during the political crisis in the State last year.
Two members of the cabinet, Engr. Aminu Raimi, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Mr. Dare Aragbaye, Special Adviser on Special Duties, have already quit the cabinet following the swearing in of Aiyedatiwa as Governor.
Aragbaye was last week quoted as allegedly saying that seven members of the cabinet, including Odu and Akinterinwa, had agreed to resign last year if Aiyedatiwa became Acting Governor but was surprised to see that only two of them actually fulfilled the promise.
