Friday Omosola
The main opposition party in Ondo State, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has berated Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, for appointing his biological son as the Director General of Performance Project Implementation Monitoring (PPIMU).
It also flayed the Governor over his recent comment reported by a section of the media, where Akeredolu was said to have advised civil servants in the state to be prudent in their financial dealings during this festive season.
The party made its standpoint known in a press release Sunday by the Party State Publicity Secretary, Kennedy Peretei, coming shortly after the heels of an earlier condemnation against the appointment of Babajide Akeredolu by the PDP.
The write-up titled, “Akeredolu’s Misrule In Ondo State (9): Puts Son in Collision Course With The Law”, had begun in series a few months ago with different topics channelled towards the Akeredolu-led administration.
Peretei claimed that workers in the state celebrated Christmas on empty stomachs, and said he had predicted it on December 1, 2021. He however claimed that since markets across the state were deserted and residents could not afford to buy basic needs during Christmas, it is just a testament of his earlier suggestive postion.
“When at the beginning of December, l predicted that workers on the payroll of the Ondo State Government will celebrate Christmas on empty stomachs, the government propaganda machinery dismissed it with the wave of the hand.”
“The empty markets across the state, the gloom in many homes and inability to purchase basic needs during Christmas told the story better than any artist could have painted”
“As if to mock the workers, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, advised workers not to overspend during the Yuletide. When there is no money to be spent, how does one over spend? This is not the subject for today’s series, so, l leave it at that”
On his son’s appointment, Peretei said: “It is no longer news that, Babajide Akeredolu, the son of Governor of Ondo State, has been sworn in as Director General of Performance and Project Implementation Monitoring Unit ( PPIMU) by his father on Monday, 13th December, 2021 with 14 others as State Commissioners.”
“The footage of the event captured Akeredolu trying to amend the buttons of the dress of his son, while the mother, Mrs Betty Akeredolu watched them with admiration”, he added.
“Criticisms trailed the nomination and appointment of Babajide by his father as DG PPIMU in service of the state. Apart from some almajiri political appointees of the Governor, nobody in his right sense applauded the appointment.
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It must be noted that Akeredolu made history on the wrong side by being the first governor to appoint his son to a powerful position that is not recognised by law. In total defiance of the uproar that accompanied this abuse of office, Akeredolu has gone ahead to swear in his son”
He continued: “this administration has been engaging members of the young generation on whose shoulders the future of this great country rests. We will continue to engage worthy youths, regardless of degree of affinity or otherwise. Only the fit and proper will join us”.
“As it stands, all the files treated by State Commissioners will have to land on “Baba’s” table for onward transfer to Akeredolu ( if need be). The statutory oversight functions of Ondo State House of Assembly have also been surreptitiously annexed by Babajide’s office. In the history of Ondo State, no Governor has openly displayed this level parochialism and nepotism”
He added, “now that Babajide Akeredolu has become a public servant, it is now mandatory for him to declare his assets with the Code of Conduct Bureau. He has to do so at the beginning and end of his tenure as DG, PPMIU. He must declare all the houses and petrol stations he bought with the N430m he collected from the Ondo State treasury without lifting a finger.”
“He is under the law and expected to declare the source of his billions syphoned from Ondo State. He is expected to declare where he ever worked before his father was elected as Governor for him to have acquired such assets. Babajide’s father is a lawyer, l expect him to know that any of his properties not captured in his Code of Conduct Assets Declaration forms will be forfeited to the Federal Government”, Peretei said.
Recall that Babajide, along with some newly appointed Commissioners and Special Advisers in the State were sworn-in two weeks ago by the Governor.
