Chief Rotimi Akeredolu who is the governor-elect of Ondo State has revealed why he did not recognize Bola Tinubu in his speech.
The Ondo State governor-elect, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, on Wednesday
explained why he refused to acknowledge a national leader of the All
Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in his victory speech on
Sunday.
He said since he recognized Buhari as the party leader, there was no
need recognizing Tinubu again in that position. According to him, having
acknowledged President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the recognised national
leader of the party, and the National Chairman, Chief John
Odigie-Oyegun, it means he had acknowledged all the party’s leaders.
In a report by Punch, he explained himself while answering State
House correspondents’ questions shortly after he and his deputy, Mr.
Agboola Ajayi, met Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, “On the names that were mentioned in my speech when
expressing gratitude and that I didn’t specifically thank Bola Ahmed
Tinubu. I thanked the President and the leader of our party profusely
for the leadership which he showed leading to this election.
“I also thanked our indefatigable chairman for standing by the truth
and for his position on this matter that led to this election. I have no
reason to do otherwise.
“Party structure, to the best of my knowledge, is very clear. You
have the leadership of the party and that is represented by Chief John
Odigie-Oyegun.
“After an election, a chief executive emerges, he becomes a leader of
the party, you don’t have to personalise and be looking for leaders all
over the place.
“If we have to do that, then I will have to mention 36 or 37 leaders.
So, I believe the leadership as represented by the President covers all
leaders and that tells me it would include Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it
would include even Baba Akande, (Ogbonnaya) Onu, and so many leaders.
“But President Buhari is the leader of the party. So, that is my position there.”
Akeredolu, however, added that Tinubu remained one of the leaders of
the party, noting that he (Tinubu) had since sent congratulatory message
to him after he won the election.
“For me, as a person, I believe he is one of the leaders of the party
and I don’t see any strained relationship between us. And you would
observe that he has sent in his congratulatory message after the
election, so what else do you expect?
“I mean all of us see this as a victory for the APC, not for
Akeredolu, not for us an individual but for the party as a whole. I
believe he is a member of the party. Mr. Femi Adesina had issued a
release but you journalists just want to put words into our mouths,” he
said.
Akeredolu also said despite his decision not to probe the
administration of the outgoing governor, Olusegun Mimiko, he would not
close his eyes if he stumbled upon established cases of wrongdoing in
the course of carrying out his responsibilities as governor.
He explained that what he said on the matter was that he would not deliberately go out to probe Mimiko’s administration.
He said, “At the centre, the government of President Buhari said we
must look back in order to move forward, he has been there for over a
year now, has he instituted a probe?
“Looking back is not a probe and I maintain that I will not probe any
administration. This is responsible leadership and I am elected to lead
the people.
“The task ahead of us is enormous than for us to start instituting
probes. My own is not to institute any probe against the last
administration and that is what President Buhari has done.
“But if we find out that wrongs were committed, we have enough laws
of the land to take care of people who have committed wrongs.
“As we start our work, as we go ahead, if there is any semblance of
‘Dasukigate’ in the state, the law will take its course. That is
different from probing. We will follow what Mr. President is doing at
the centre.”
The governor-elect also promised to implement his manifesto in line with the reality on the ground.
That, he said, did not mean that he would not deliver on all the five cardinal programmes he promised the people.
On Senator Yele Omogunwa who left the PDP for the APC, Akeredolu said
the lawmaker had joined his campaign trail and that he only formalised
his defection on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
He said it would have been wrong for the lawmaker to remain in a factionalised party like the PDP.
Lalong had earlier said that he was in the Presidential Villa to present the governor-elect and his deputy to the President.
He said he would also be visiting the national headquarters of the APC to do the same thing to party leaders.
The governor-elect again said the APC was not responsible for the confusion over the candidacy of the PDP ahead of the election.
He said, “It was not the APC that went to court neither was it the
APC that gave the judgment, all we saw was friction or conflict between
the PDP and the PDP.
“If that judgment was going to help the APC, so be it. But we were
not parties to the case for somebody to even assume that the APC was
responsible for denying somebody.
“The APC is not the court; the court is a separate arm. I am saying
that as far as we are concerned, the APC was not responsible for denying
anybody the right to contest that election.”
Meanwhile, Akeredolu on Wednesday pledged his loyalty to Odigie-Oyegun, whom he said he owed a debt of gratitude.
Akeredolu said this at the APC national headquarters, Abuja, where he
presented his certificate of return to the leadership of the party.
Akeredolu also promised to work towards ensuring that the party
repeats the same feat during the next governorship election in
neighbouring Ekiti State.
He said, “I owe you, my national chairman, a lot. You have done well,
I will be loyal. I remember during my campaigns; I said that
immediately we win Ondo, we will move en mass to win Ekiti.”
Responding, Odigie-Oyegun urged the governor-elect to ensure prompt
payment of outstanding workers’ salaries as soon as he resumes duty.
Odigie-Oyegun said, “People who work deserve their pay and I hope that would be your first priority.”
