Sola Amodeni, former commissioner
for urban and physical planning in Ondo state, says Rotimi Akeredolu, governor
of the state, instructed all his cabinet members to work for Action Alliance
(AA) candidates during the last national assembly elections.
Tunji Abayomi, an associate of
Akeredolu, who was elected under the platform of the the All Progressives
Congress (APC) in 2016, was the candidate of AA in Ondo north senatorial
district in the 2019 elections.
The APC did not fare well in the
state during the elections as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defeated
Buhari in Ondo.
This fuelled discontent against
Akeredolu within the party hierarchy. The national working committee of the
ruling party had accused him of anti-party activities and suspended him.
Amodeni, who is among the three
commissioners the governor sacked on Monday, told select media organisations that the governor worked against the ruling party in the
elections.
“He (Akeredolu) instructed us to
work for Action Alliance candidates. That’s not a secret. He had cause to do
that because some candidates were imposed on the people of Ondo state,” he
said.
“What we would have expected was
that the matter should have been resolved but he (Akeredolu) choose that line…
let’s just save the rest for prosperity.”
Asked if he followed the
governor’s instruction and worked for AA, Amodeni said, “Well to some extent, I
worked for AA. Initially, I objected but I was convinced to obey the governor…
I have no cause to deny it.
 |
| Amodeni |
“It has come and gone, we have
all learnt from that; it’s not good to impose candidates. APC didn’t hold
primary elections in Ondo state, don’t let us deceive ourselves. We didn’t hold
primary anywhere. The committee that came from Abuja didn’t hold any primary,
they just selected some persons. At the state level here, we also wrote
different names. There was no internal democracy.”
Amodeni refused to give an
assessment of Akeredolu’s administration, saying it’s too early since he just
left the government.
“When it comes to assessing the
government, I won’t be in position to do that because I just left. I want the
public to decide and assess for now. I will be able to do that probably after
few months,” he said.
“It’s like somebody that is
playing on the football pitch, he may not know the performance of his team
until he goes on recess or sits back and watch the playback of the match.”
Amodeni said during his time as a
commissioner, he did not know what the state got as allocation from the federal
government.
The politician, who also served
under Olusegun Mimiko, Akeredolu’s predecessor, added that he did not award a
single contract from the time he was appointed till he was asked to leave.
“During the time of Mimiko, the
quantum of money coming to this state can’t be compared to what comes now. As a
commissioner under Mimiko, you can award a contract to the tune of 1 million
naira and management committee can award 2 to 3 million naira contract but in
this dispensation, I don’t know of others, but I doubt if any commissioner can
award N1 naira contract because the fund is not even there. So I can’t really
blame Mr Governor in totality because of paucity or fund.
“From beginning till the time I
left, my salary was N297,000 monthly. Cabinet members of Ondo state received
the least in Nigeria. I had to pay my driver, my personal assistant and fuel my
car. Most of the times, I used my personal car because there is no official
car. As a commissioner, I didn’t know what the state got as allocation. I can’t
even say I know it at all.”
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