Right now, there’s a cold war between the\nGovernor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and his Deputy\nAgboola Ajayi, who many believe has a political ambition. For over 3 months\nnow, there has been news coming from some political quarters in the state that\nthe deputy governor, Agboola Ajayi, is interested in the number one seat and he\nis ready to pursue it and make the dream a reality. This fight has been going\non underground and according to information, moves had been made on many\noccasions to stop the deputy from pursuing his ambition to become Governor. Though,\nthere has not been any proof that he is eyeing his boss seat, many believe\nAgboola is ambitious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will be recalled that last year, one of\nthe Deputy Governor\u2019s close aides was sacked because the aide referred to the\nwife of the Deputy Governor as acting First Lady on social media during her birthday, last\nyear. Again, the recent hijack of his political chairmanship slot in his Local\nGovernment by the governor was said to be the beginning of the real game that\nno one knows where it will end. As it is, Arakunrin Akeredolu is more concerned\nabout his deputy\u2019s intrigues than other political battles ahead of his second\nterm ambition in office. Interestingly,\neither the Deputy Governor or his Media aides are yet to respond to the\nallegations levelled against him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just last week the state government,\nthrough the Commissioner for Information reacted to the allegation levelled\nagainst them by the Hon member representing Ese-Odo State Constituency under\nthe platform of APC, Hon Success. The honourable accused the Akeredolu-led government of\nsidelining the minority Ijaw in the state in some key appointments and\nemployment opportunities. The Information Commissioner, Donald Ojogo who is\nalso from the area, asked the people of Ijaw to blame the State Deputy Governor,\nHon Agboola Ajayi for any perceived marginalisation. Efforts to reach the\nDeputy Governor on the allegation proved abortive. He could only reply that \u201cI\nwill speak at the appropriate time\u201d His aides have spoken on the issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, video clips were released from\nboth camps (Governor and Deputy Governor) with music lyrics from King Sunny Ade\nand that of the Governor which had Late Orlando Owoh lyrics. Each passed\nmessages to one another. While that of the Governor was shared by Richard\nOlatundan, an aide to the governor, that of the Deputy was shared by his aide,\nAllen Sowore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Deputy Governor, His Excellency Agboola\nAjayi is known to be a grassroot politician that knows the nooks and crannies\nof the political environment in Ondo State, having been in politics for over 3\ndecades now. He played a prominent role in the 2016 governorship election in\nthe state and even up till date his political influence can not be ruled out.\nMany believe \u201cAgbo\u201d as fondly called, is a politician with strong horns and\ntactics, equipped with political think tanks and gimmicks can never be\nunderestimated. So in the public glare, particularly political followers and\nstakeholders are keen and watching as events unfold. But the question on the\nlips of many political observers is: Is the Deputy Governor really nursing the\nambition to contest for the Ondo 2020 governorship race? and under which\nplatform. Is it APC or his former party PDP because of the silence on his camp?\nthough the Deputy Governor has been telling those who care to hear that he has\nno ambition and neither is he contesting any election against his boss. But his\nsilence on most allegations levelled against him makes his supporters think\nother wise. It\u2019s the constitional right of the Governor to seek reelection after\nthe tenure of his first term in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though, rumors have been flying around that\nwith the look of things and the way things are going between the governor and\nhis Deputy, Akeredolu is likely to impeach him. But the Hon. member\nrepresenting Owo State Constituency 2 has debunked the rumor that nothing of\nsuch is going on at the assembly. He said \u201cas at today, I\u2019m not aware of any\nimpeachment plot against the Deputy Governor. I have not been briefed about\nthat.” (impeachment plot). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lets\ntell you more about Agboola Ajayi who started his political career in the late\n80\u2019s when he became the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the\nOld Apoi ward-1 between 1989 and 1992. He steered the wheel of the party so\nperfectly and transparently that he gained the trust of his people and this\ncaught the attention of his people so much to the extent that he was the\nunanimous choice of eminent leaders when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was\nformed in 1998 and he was made the Secretary of PDP Ilaje\/ Ese-Odo Local\nGovernment between 1998 and 1999. His performances and attitude was one of the\ntraits the leaders in his community saw in him, if he had greater\nopportunities, he would give them good representation and would not forget his\nroot and this lead to various political position that he held on to. He was\nappointed as Supervisor for Agriculture for Ese-Odo Local Government between\n1999 and 2001 and in recognition of his excellent performance between 1999 and\n2001, he was appointed again as Supervisor for Works for Ese-Odo Local\nGovernment between 2001 and 2003. Furtherance to his meritorious service in\nprevious offices, he was appointed Caretaker Chairman of Ese-Odo Local\nGovernment between 2003 and 2004. And in 2004, he won the election as the\ndemocratically elected Chairman of Ese-Odo Local Government his victory was\nseen as the reward of his selfless and humanitarian services to his people. He\nserved selflessly and meritoriously as the Chairman of Ese-Odo Local Government\nbetween 2004 and 2007 and the Treasurer of Association of Local Government of\nNigeria (ALGON), Ondo State chapter between 2004 and 2007. Having served as\nChairman for 3 years, his political climax changed in 2007 when he was elected\nMember Federal House of Representative to represent Ilaje\/Ese-Odo Federal\nConstituency. He saw is emergence as the House of reps lawmaker as a landmark\nopportunity for him to serve his people better and develop their land. At the\nNational Assembly, he served as the Chairman of House Committee on NDDC between\n2007 and 2010. He was also a member of the various committees, which included\nHouse Committee on Gas, House committee on Habitat, House committee on Justice\nand House Committee on Industry between 2007 and 2010. He also contested for\nthe Ondo South Senatorial seat twice under PDP. As the politics of the state is\nas at now, he has become a household name in the state and Ondo South\nSenatorial district of Ondo State. And he had since remained a major\ndeterminant of socio-political issues in the Southern senatorial district of\nOndo State, through the Social Democratic Party, People\u2019s Democratic Party and\nnow All Progressive Congress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing about the deputy governor is that\nhe has remained a loyal party person and he has always pitched his tent with\nprogressive and ideology of the people. This grass-root politician is\npassionate to serve his people and one thing you can\u2019t take away from him is\nthe fact that he has been a loyal party person and stakeholder of PDP for more\nthan 10 years, before he joined APC in 2015 where he emerged the Deputy\nGovernor of Ondo State to Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, fondly address as Aketi\nas the 6th Executive Governor of Ondo State. Another thing is that, the Deputy\nGovernor is a silent achiever and a great political communication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013Adeola Shittu<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right now, there’s a cold war between the Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and his Deputy Agboola Ajayi, who many believe has a political ambition. For over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":125278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18387,8990,821],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ajayi-Akeredolu-Ondo-State.png?fit=510%2C353&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":125276,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/ondo-dep-gov-agboola-ajai-breaks-silence-over-rift-with-gov-akeredolu\/","url_meta":{"origin":138473,"position":0},"title":"Ondo Dep Gov., Agboola Ajai Breaks Silence Over Rift With Gov Akeredolu","author":"Damilare Salami","date":"September 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Hon. Agboola Ajayi has cleared the air over the alleged hostility between him and his boss, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. According to Ajayi who spoke while celebrating his 51st birthday at the Government House, Akure, the Ondo State capital, unknown to people even within the governor\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ajayi, Akeredolu, Ondo State,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Ajayi-Akeredolu-Ondo-State.png?fit=510%2C353&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17967,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/ondo-governor-picked-agboola-ajayi-deputy\/","url_meta":{"origin":138473,"position":1},"title":"Why ONDO Governor Picked AGBOOLA AJAYI As Deputy","author":"Adeola Shittu","date":"May 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Untold Story Of Arakunrin-Keji, AGBOOLA AJAYI Many people may have been wondering why Ondo Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, picked Agboola Ajayi as his Deputy. We can tell you why. City People gathered that it's because of his political relevance. He is an astute politician. Arakunrin-Keji, Alfred Agboola Ajayi, who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Agboola Ajayi, ZLP, Zenith Labour Party,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Agboola-Ajayi.jpg?fit=690%2C460&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Agboola-Ajayi.jpg?fit=690%2C460&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Agboola-Ajayi.jpg?fit=690%2C460&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":143093,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/ondo-deputy-governor-agoola-ports-to-zenith-labour-party-zlp\/","url_meta":{"origin":138473,"position":2},"title":"Ondo Deputy Governor, Agoola Ports To Zenith Labour Party, ZLP","author":"Damilare Salami","date":"July 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Agboola Ajayi, the deputy governor of Ondo State, is expected to officially announce his move to the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and will be adopted as the candidate of the party for the October 10 governorship election, multiple sources close to Mr Ajayi and the ZLP have told this newspaper.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Agboola Ajayi, ZLP, Zenith Labour Party,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Agboola-Ajayi.jpg?fit=690%2C460&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Agboola-Ajayi.jpg?fit=690%2C460&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Agboola-Ajayi.jpg?fit=690%2C460&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":146332,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/lagos-apc-congratulates-akeredolu\/","url_meta":{"origin":138473,"position":3},"title":"Lagos APC congratulates Akeredolu","author":"Reporter","date":"October 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Sunday congratulated Gov. 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