BREAKING: ‘Tinubu Directs Akeredolu To Transfer Power To Aiyedatiwa Via E-Signature’

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is said to have directed Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who is presently ill, to cede his responsibilities to his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

Because of the governor’s health, the power transfer will take place by electronic signature (e-signature) rather than physical documents.

The instruction was issued yesterday at a meeting held by President Tinubu to resolve the leadership problem in Ondo.

According to reports, the Nigerian leader warned participants that Governor Akeredolu’s health had worsened to the point that he could no longer sign official documents.

President Tinubu had asked the state deputy governor, Aiyedatiwa, and the House of Assembly Speaker, Olamide Oladiji, to an urgent meeting at Aso Villa in Abuja on Monday to find a solution to the continuing squabble in the South-West state.

According to SaharaReporters, sources close to President Tinubu aim to recommend that the deputy governor take the job of acting governor in order to settle the state’s leadership dilemma.

TopNaija reports that the emergency meeting on Monday is the President’s second summons to resolve the leadership situation, which emerged as a result of the governor’s absence from office since July 2023.

Additionally, the meeting was convened in response to rising pressure from the civil society organization Take-It-Back, which had vowed to launch large rallies throughout Ondo State on Saturday, December 16, in order to demand Akeredolu’s resignation.

Note that the governor of Ondo State had gone missing since returning to Nigeria in September after a three-month medical break in Germany.

Apart from Aiyedatiwa and Oladiji, Akeredolu’s son, Babajide, was present at the meeting. He 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).

Jimoh Ibrahim, the senator representing Ondo South, was also present at the most recent meeting.

Insiders told SaharaReporters that there was originally agreement among attendance that the State House of Assembly should apply the concept of necessity to designate Aiyedatiwa as temporary governor.

However, a few present people urged President Tinubu not to go forward with this plan since it would shame the wounded governor.

“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,” one of the sources reportedly said.

“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,” it added.