In a communique released and signed by the forum’s Publicity Secretary, Kayode Fasua, its Chairman, Dr. Dipo Okeyomi, and deputy chairman, Femi Ogunleye; OSF expressed outrage over a publication it described as utter falsehood, in which Aiyedatiwa and the Chief of Staff, Mr. Gbenga Ale, were accused of gloating over the health condition of the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
Akeredolu is currently in Germany on medical vacation.
Describing the sponsors of the publication as callous and inhuman, the group said insinuations that Aiyedatiwa and Ale were pushing for the resignation of the governor on health grounds reeked of mischief and sheer fabrication.
“As a close observer of events in our dear Ondo State, the OSF is shell-shocked reading a publication that the acting Governor, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and the Chief of Staff, Mr. Gbenga Ale, were panicky, over reports that Governor Akeredolu had recovered and would soon return to the state.
“The sponsors of the report went further afield to poorly concoct their salacious story that Aiyedatiwa was pushing for the resignation of his boss on health grounds.
“Nothing can be farther from the truth; here is Aiyedatiwa that some people had been calling a weak man by not doing anything against the interest of his boss; that he acted like a lamb to concentrate on the assignment thrust upon him to govern the state in acting capacity,” the OSF lamented.
It expressed regrets that “the same political group with vested interest and with ambition ahead of the 2024 governorship election which at a time described Aiyedatiwa as weak has now realised the futility of that effort, and is now painting him as belligerent and power-hungry.”
It added, “Much as we are outraged over this sheer falsehood, mischief and sheer fabrication, we warn these people who have deliberately designed a camp for themselves within the Ondo State Government not to set the state on fire, as Ondo State has been noted for peace and tranquility, in the aftermath of the unfortunate 1983 political crisis that engulfed the state.”
The OSF thus advised Aiyedatiwa not to be upset “by the formulation of lies against him” by those it described as “political charlatans”; assuring that all such people would be exposed in due course.
The OSF also prayed for the speedy recovery of Governor Akeredolu, even as it advised Aiyedatiwa “to continue his good works and his display of clear conscience.”
