Ondo: Tinubu directs Akeredolu to transfer power by e-signature to Aiyedatiwa

President Bola Tinubu has directed ailing Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State to transfer power to his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

However, the transfer of power will be done by electronic signature (e-signature) as the ailing governor is too weak to sign any document.

According to SaharaReporters, Tinubu told people at the meeting he had summoned to resolve the leadership crisis in Ondo on Monday that Akeredolu was incapacitated and could not sign a letter anymore.

Tinubu had summoned the state deputy governor, Aiyedatiwa and House of Assembly Speaker, Olamide Oladiji to Aso Villa in Abuja for an urgent meeting slated for Monday.

Monday’s emergency meeting was the second one summoned by the President to resolve the leadership crisis in the state following the governor’s absence from office since July 2023.

The meeting at the instance of Tinubu was due to mounting pressure from the civil society organisation Take-It-Back, which had threatened to commence mass protests across Ondo State from Saturday, December 16 to demand Akeredolu’s resignation.

The ailing governor has gone AWOL since returning to Nigeria in September from a three-month medical leave in Germany.

Apart from Aiyedatiwa and Oladiji, Akeredolu’s son, Babajide, who was appointed by the governor in November 2021 as the Director General of the Performance and Project Implementation Monitoring Unit, Office of the Governor of Ondo State (PPIMU), was one of those present at the meeting.

The senator representing Ondo South, Jimoh Ibrahim, was also present.

Sources told SaharaReporters that it was first agreed that the State House of Assembly should invoke the doctrine of necessity to make Aiyedatiwa the acting governor, but some of those present pleaded with President Tinubu that it would humiliate the ailing governor.

one of the sources said, “During the meeting, it was agreed that the State House of Assembly should invoke the doctrine of necessity and make Lucky Ayedatiwa the Acting Governor, but the Speaker and Senator Jimoh Ibrahim pleaded that the ailing governor would be humiliated.

“The son (Babajide) then promised to go and obtain his father’s e-signature to pen a letter to the State House of Assembly, transferring power to the deputy governor.”

Sources at the meeting also disclosed that someone raised concern that since there was already a case of forgery established in handling the affairs of the state, it would not make sense for power to be transferred through such dubious means.

Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), won his re-election as the state governor in October 2020 and was sworn in for a second term in office in February 2021.

However, the governor’s second term, since January 2023, has not been smooth sailing as he had to be flown abroad for treatment over a medical condition.

It was reported that Akeredolu was suffering from leukemia.

Leukemia is a blood cancer caused by a rise in the number of white blood cells in the body.

The 67-year-old politician returned to Nigeria in September after a three-month medical leave in Germany but has been holed up in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Meanwhile, Akeredolu has been under intense pressure from opposition parties to resign or hand over power to his deputy in line with the 1999 constitution. But his aides have defended his action or inaction, saying he could govern the state from anywhere.