Aiyedatiwa’s Team Unfolds

By Ayodele Oni

Exactly 27 days in the saddle of governance of Ondo state, Governor Lucky  Aiyedatiwa has started to unfold his identity and assert himself as the executive Governor of the State.

Since his swearing-in as Governor after the death of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Governor Aiyedatiwa has been behaving as if he does not understand what the new office entails.

There have been shouts here and there that Aiyedatiwa had been too slow in taking some vital decisions, especially making a choice of his deputy. The silence and long period gave birth to various opinions about the person and area where the deputy will emerge.

A school of thought advised that in honour of his late boss, the Deputy should come from Owo. There is another thinking that the central senatorial too is qualify, while some religious faith maintained that the nominee must be a Muslim and possibly a woman, if gender would be considered.

There were occasions that some members of the dissolved executive council openly tackled, insulted and harassed the governor over decisions he took. Even at the level of the state executive council meeting, the reality has not fell on members to see that Aiyedatiwa is now the executive governor of Ondo state.

It is no surprise when the news came on Wednesday that the state executive council had been dissolved with all political appointees of the late Governor Akeredolu sacked.

There was this comment on the Facebook page of a former member of the House of Representatives, Mike Omogbein  which captured what Aiyedatiwa actually faced in the hand of the former political office holders.

Omogbein wrote “There’s a Yoruba adage; Eni f’oju ana w’oku, ebora a bo laso!

“You must know when there’s a shift in power and stop undermining the new sheriff, even if he was your house boy.

“You guys are lucky that we’re in a democracy and Ayedatiwa is not a retired General like OBJ, you should have been despatched with some strokes of the cane for gross disrespect to authority.

“You expect him to wait till the burial of your former boss, but you want to continue in the business of disrespecting him forever, abi?

I have no more an atom of respect for you guys..Good radiance to bad rubbish….arrogant, power drunk, spoilt brats dede!

Ondo State would be better for it….”

When the expected news of dissolution was made public even civil servants could not hide their joy as at one of the ministries, the former Commissioner there was openly harassed and chased out of office due to his unfriendly attitude to the workers. There was another particular one that received loud ovation from the workers too for his excellent performance. They even urged Aiyedatiwa to reappoint him.

To be followed immediately after the dissolution were appointments. First was that of the deputy governor. In this one, Aiyedatiwa listened to pleas for an Owo indigene, but he did not fall into the trap set for him with some names suggested for him.

Rather than picking one of the politicians as his deputy, Aiyedatiwa went for a Technocrat whose name did not ring bell among political actors in the state, in person of Olayide Adelami, a former deputy clerk of the national assembly.

There is this position that the choice of an elderly and Technocrat to fill that position is best for the governor, especially now that it is becoming clearer that he will have a shot at the governorship. Any appointment to be made now by Aiyedatiwa must be in tandem with his aspiration. One is not surprised when he brought back Tayo Oluwatuyi, aka Tukana from Akure as the secretary to the state government. Oluwatuyi once served in that position during the first term of late Governor Akeredolu.

Oluwatuyi, is a grassroot politician from Akure and highly respected. He once served as chairman of Akure South local government. He will surely use his credibility to mobilize for Aiyedatiwa at that area. Definitely, he will be on the field with the Governor to canvass for votes.

Those that will now emerge as members of the state executive council too are definitely going to be loyalists of Mr Governor and likely form part of the electoral college during the primary to elect a governorship candidate in April. The people of the state look forward to know the new set of Commissioners that will work with Governor Aiyedatiwa.