Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has dismissed an allegation by his former Commissioner for Special Duties, Culture and Tourism, Mr Olufemi Adekanmbi, that he is threatening his life.
He accused the former commissioner of being mischievous for using his name to seek attention for motives known only to him.
The governor was reacting to Adekanmbi’s allegation that he was after his life over the forthcoming 2020 Governorship election in the state.
Speaking through his Senior Media Assistant, Mr Ojo Oyewamide, Akeredolu said he had no place for hate and wickedness in his heart.
Oyewamide added that Governor Akeredolu has been too busy with the process of developing the state to think of doing harm to anybody.
According to the governor’s aide: “But for the deceptive and diversionary reason, mischief, as well as the motive behind the person in question, we would not have bothered granting any element of seriousness to an unstable character as such.
“We will not dwell into whatever purile issues he has raised. A man with clean hands does not require extraneous things to seek attention.
“If it is attention he desires, this should be enough for people of his ilk. Adekanmbi requires no more of response than the fact that the world should ignore him”.
Adekanmbi, who spoke with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, had alleged that the governor considered him a threat to his 2020 re-election bid.
He alleged that the governor and his agents had hatched a plot to plant a gun and drop a corpse in his (Adekanmbi’s) Owo country home to find grounds for his arrest on gun running and murder charges.
According to him: “The reason behind all these is because of the forthcoming governorship election in which they believe some powerful forces are behind my aspiration.
“Plans have been perfected to rope me at all cost by dropping a dead body in my house at Owo and thereafter hold me responsible for the killing. Plans have also been perfected to plant incriminating objects like gun in my house to rope me as a gun-runner.
“To make the matter worse, I have it on good authority that plans have been perfected to assassinate me by giving N10million to one of the boys close to me to shoot me at a very close range and make the killing look like accidental discharge to ultimately free my assailant.”
Adekanmbi, who said he was forced to flee Owo to Abuja as a result of the alleged threat, stated that the governor perceived him a threat to his 2020 re-election bid.
Both Akeredolu and Adekanmbi hail from Owo, a situation the latter said, has continued to stir suspicion in the governor that he (Adekanmbi) might challenge him at the poll.
The chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the governor has been uncomfortable with the various community projects he initiated in Owo in the past few months.
Stating that he has not made up his mind to contest the governorship election in 2020, Adekanmbi said the governor should be held responsible should any harm befall him.
He said: “I wish to use this opportunity to call on you to save my soul by letting the world know through your media that my life is no longer safe and I call on you and the whole world to note that Governor Akeredolu and his Attorney General Mr. Kola Olawuyi should be held responsible if anything untoward should happen to me”.
The Nation
