The Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, has insisted that ailing Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, cannot resign his position over his health challenge.
Ademola-Olateju, during a live interview on Arise News Television on Friday morning insisted that Governor Akeredolu was not incapacitated; hence, there was no need for him to resign.
SaharaReporters has in several reports confirmed how the governor’s health status had remained a subject of controversy as he remained in his undisclosed private residence in Ibadan, Oyo State, since he returned in September from Germany where he spent three months on medical leave.
During the interview, the commissioner maintained that the governor still performed all his duties and that the only thing he wasn’t doing at the moment was attending social events.
She explained that the governor had been attending to memos and in touch with the cabinet members.
The commissioner who was asked why Governor Akeredolu who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has not considered resigning from office, the same way when he was the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), he had called on the then President Umaru Yar’Adua to resign on account of his health.
She stood her ground that the governor is not incapacitated and does not have to resign.
Ademola-Olateju said that “The governor is not incapacitated, I still maintain that. He would have easily done the needful. The governor still gives approvals. No issue, other than the heightened political issues.”
On why the State Executive Council has not, in line with the provisions of Section 189 (1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As amended) declared the governor as incapable, the Commissioner said the governor is not incapacitated and the executive council had no such plan.
The constitution provided that “The governor or deputy governor of a state shall cease to hold office if (a) by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all members of the executive council of the State, it is declared that the governor or deputy governor is incapable of discharging the functions of his office.”
But she said that “Unless the governor is incapacitated, there is no reason to evaluate his health.”
On why the governor has remained in Ibadan if truly he wasn’t incapacitated, she said that “The governor is still recuperating having gone through a very bad illness. I can’t come here and lie – I know Nigerians are watching – that the governor can run and play tennis. That is not true.
“The governor is still recuperating. His psychomotor, affective and cognitive skills are still intact, but he’s not as strong as he was in the past.”
The commissioner who was further asked about the nature of the governor’s illness, said that “It’s not a very good illness, I think it’s a somatic problem (related to the body, especially as distinct from the mind). He has lost some weight, and he once told us that after 40, nobody is well.”
Meanwhile, the commissioner blamed the heightened political tension in the state on the ambition of the deputy governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
