Doyin Odebowale, the Special Adviser on Special Duty and Strategy to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, says his principal is not working from the capital Akure due to accommodation challenges.
Akeredolu has been absent from the state since his return from a medical vacation abroad.
While the Ondo leader is working from Ibadan, Oyo State, the move has caused ripples within the state with the youths of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday issuing an ultimatum to the governor to return.
However, speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Odebowale said due to Governor Akeredolu’s state of health, he needs a better apartment to carry out his task of marshalling the affairs of the South-West state.
“Aketi came back in September. Where he used to stay – the Presidential Lodge built for the visiting president at that time Olusegun Obasanjo – is a two-bedroom apartment,” he said on the show.
“Now, he is back. He cannot occupy that place again. The Old Governor’s Office – the Governor’s Lodge built by the previous administration is now the office of the investment outlet called the ODIPA. That’s the office,” the governor’s aide added.
“So, the governor has been managing a two-bedroom apartment for six years. But his current state of health would not permit him to pretend that all is well. He would need all the things for him to recover properly. That’s why the new place that is being arranged for him is almost completed.”
He wondered why critics want his principal back in the state, maintaining that governance has been going on smoothly despite Akeredolu not being physically present in Ondo State.
“When they say they want to see Aketi, do they want to see him at the site so that he would be carrying cement or following workmen? What exactly? The civil servants have been paid all their salaries. Aketi has been signing laws since he came back,” he maintained.
Akeredolu’s aide claims the recent ripples over the Ondo governor’s absence show he (Aketi) is “surrounded by enemies from within. Even his family”.