Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, the Commissioner for Information in Ondo State, has revealed that President Bola Tinubu, in his intervention in the state’s political turmoil, requested a signed resignation letter from the state’s Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Following a months-long political deadlock with the governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, Aiyedatiwa presided over the state’s executive council meeting on Thursday.
Tinubu convened the executive council meeting after summoning the opposing groups loyal to Akeredolu and Aiyedatiwa to resolve the state’s political problem.
According to the Presidency, Tinubu’s intervention means that Akeredolu would remain governor of the state and Aiyedatiwa will remain deputy governor.
However, Ademola-Olateju, who appeared on Channels Television’s Lunchtime Politics on Friday, stated that the President later asked the deputy governor for a signed undated resignation in case something unpleasant occurred.
“First of all before I even talk about the Abuja meeting I just want to thank the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for being a very good leader, wielding into the crisis in Ondo State.
“His intervention has cooled the temperature that was just going haywire in Ondo State, we thank him. At the Abuja meeting, key decisions were made by Mr President who is the leader of our party the All Progressives Congress. Those key decisions were that the status quo in the state be maintained.
“He decided that the executive council must not be dissolved under any condition and the party structure should be maintained, that the leadership of the House of Assembly should be intact and he nominated three people; the Secretary to the State Government, the party chairman and the speaker of the house to be the enforcers and to forestall further problems.
“He asked for the signed resignation letter of Honourable Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the Deputy Governor undated in case anything untoward happens, so that is what I know,” the commissioner said.
The Ondo State House of Assembly and its Speaker also abandoned an appeal filed before the Court of Appeal in Abuja against a verdict by the Federal High Court in Abuja that halted Aiyedatiwa’s planned impeachment.
The House of Assembly and its Speaker had disputed the Federal High Court in Abuja’s jurisdiction to hear the case and had appealed the court’s judgment suspending the planned impeachment of the deputy governor.
Remi Olatobura, counsel for the Speaker and the Assembly, informed the three-member panel of appellate court justices on Thursday that he has received instructions from his clients to withdraw the case.
The senior lawyer informed the court that the parties in the case had reached a political settlement and had agreed to drop their appeal.
According to Olatubora, the appeal is being withdrawn in the interests of peace and as part of the parties’ agreement.
Respondents in the appeal verified that they were issued with the notice of withdrawal and stated that they did not object to it.
Justice Haruna Tsammani, who presided over the three-member panel, later dismissed the appeal, which had been withdrawn by the appellants.