Mohammed Shosanya
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)Ondo State chapter, Monday,gave Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu three-days ultimatum to either resume in his office at Alagbaka, Akure or resign from office.
Some members of PDP, who were mostly youths converged on the party’s Secretariat at Alagbaka, Akure protesting the absence of the governor from the state and rejecting the “governor’s decision to govern the state by proxy.”
The protesters, who defied the presence of security agencies, particularly Police and National Security for Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC),barricaded the entry into the party’s Secretariat with Armoured Personnel Carrier(APC) and vans.
They displayed their banners within the Secretariat premises and called the governor to address the people of the state within 24 hours.
They implored Governor Akeredolu to resume in the Governor’s Office at Alagbaka, Akure,the state capital or resign if he’s incapable of continuing in office.
One of the youth leaders, Akintayo Oluyi, said the state has been grounded by the absence of the governor in the state.
He said the All Progressives Congress-led state government employed the security agencies in the state to prevent them from carrying out their planned peaceful protest
He said they had written to all security agencies in the state informing them about their plan to embark on a peaceful protest in Akure,the state capital.
He expressed shock why the same security agencies turned out to barricade their Secretariat and prevented them from carrying out the peaceful protest.
He said: “It is no longer gain saying that in the last nine months, there has been vacuum of leadership in Ondo State. Sometimes in April, the people of the state agitated and that led us to having an acting governor.
“We were also aware of what transpired when Aiyedatiwa was acting in his stead. That isn’t even our problem because it’s an internal issue. But since 32 days ago that the governor arrived from his three-month medical leave in Germany, we’ve not seen the governor anywhere near the state.
“Yet, we’ve been hearing of Akeredolu passing bills into law by proxy and this is what informed the protest by the youth wing of PDP in the state.
“We can no longer continue like this. We are the voice of the people, we are the voice of the masses. We are saying, Mr Governor must resume back to duty, he can no longer govern us by proxy, we can no longer be hearing that he’s one thing or the other when we’ve not sighted him. We know the governor we have, if he’s truly fit, we would have sighted him in the streets of Akure.
“The youth wing of the party is giving Mr Governor the next 24 hours to address the people of Ondo State and we are giving him three days ultimatum resume back to the state.
“We’ve been seeing series of responses from the APC that the governor will join us in days time. We are giving him three days ultimatum to address us and if he fails, we as the opposition party will occupy the streets of Akure and we will continue to demand that he either resume or resign.”
The state Publicity Secretary of PDP, Kennedy Peretei told journalists that APC-led government could not gag the people of Ondo State from asking for the whereabouts of their governor.
He stated that the people of the state elected Akeredolu as their governor and should not be hidden from the people of the state.
Supporting the youth, Peretei called on Governor Akeredolu to return to the state and resume in his office or he should resign if he’s no longer capable of continuing in office.
He said: “We were really embarrassed because the security agencies were fully notified because we don’t want a situation where by PDP will be responsible for a breakdown of law and order.
“But to our utmost shock, we saw security agencies with Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and their vehicles with about 400 personnel armed to the teeth at the front of our secretariat.
“We were asking them what they were doing here but they said they don’t want us to enter. After sometimes, they allowed us access but some of our staff were asked to leave the office.
“All the youth that were supposed to participate in the peaceful protest were outside.
“All we’ve asked for is very simple. Where is Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu? He was elected the Governor of Ondo State, he did a failed four years and the second term is going without result.
Even if he’s not going to do anything, let him come to Ondo State. If he’s not capable of ruling again, let him resign honourably.
“So, we are asking Akeredolu to resign or he resumes.”
Meanwhile, the spokesperson to the state Police Command, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, a Superintendent of Police (SP) explained that the Police blocked the PDP Secretariat to prevent breakdown of law and order.
She said PDP didn’t inform the Police appropriately about the planned protest, saying “This morning, Police actually sent some of its personnel to the place to maintain law and orders.
“On Friday we got a kind of anonymous letter stating that some people want to protest and the letter came in without letter-head, no details of those who wanted to embark on the protest.
“For the safety of the party involved, we just felt to mobilize our men to maintain law and orders in case of anything.
“Because we don’t want a situation whereby people will just take themselves to the streets and at the end of the day people will deny that they are not the one.
“One man, Akintayo Oluyi signed the letter and from our background check, we are not sure either he is actually the Chairman of the youth wing of the party.”
Governor Akeredolu had left the state on medical leave for sometime, but returned to his Ibadan, Oyo State residence where he submitted his letter of resumption to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly
He had transmitted power to his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa after much outcry before he embarked on the medical leave.
But since the governor returned to the country and informed the state Assembly that he’s back in office, he has not been sighted anywhere in the state.
He has been “performing” his official duties from his residence in Ibadan since he officially resumed duty.
