Dr. Benson Enikuomehin, a legal practitioner and former Special Assistant to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, speaks in this interview with select journalists, on the political crisis rocking Ondo State, the health of the governor cum the ongoing impeachment process against Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa, the deputy governor among other issues.
A lot is happening in Ondo State, and you are from there, so, can you please give us a brief observation of what is going on there right now?
Well, that’s my state and from what I reeled out to you, I have participated in the affairs of the state for almost about 13 or more years. The current happening in Ondo is a sad one, sad in the sense that we have it, as the pilot of the plane immediately took ill, and the plane must of necessity land; that is amid the air, the pilot became sick, so it means the crew men, and the passengers are at the mercy of the pilot.
The pilot of Ondo State is Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN who has been indisposed for a while. We pray for him to be well. Even if anybody were to be your enemy in our own clime, in our own culture, you don’t wish anyone dead, moreso that the person is not anybody’s enemy. So, the people of Ondo State have been praying for him to be well.
About three months or thereabout, he was critically ill, that he had to be flown out of the country. Before he left, to transfer the reign of power as constitutionally provided to his deputy became an issue. But on the long run, I think reasons prevailed, he did transfer the power to his deputy and he left. While he was away, whether the deputy was actually acting or he was acting a play is another game altogether. Because we had expected that as soon as the pilot leaves the scene, the co-pilot will automatically take over. He cannot be toiling with the plane because he knows that anything that happens to the plane, he too maybe a casualty.
And that’s why you see when they fly, the pilots, the governor, there is his co-governor called the deputy governor, which is why the governor has the sole prerogative of choosing who will be his deputy. As soon as the person becomes his deputy, he does not lie in the mouth of the governor to throw him outside.
The person is clothed with some measure of constitutional provisions. You can go ahead and choose who you want. But once you choose the person, you cannot say the person is not intelligent enough. You cannot say the person is not educated enough. You cannot say the person is not sociable enough, you have chosen him. It’s like going into a marriage. You open your eyes before you said, ‘Yes, I do.’
So when the governor chooses his deputy, he should know the weight of what will happen in case of any eventualities. He must be thinking of one who is loyal to him, in case anything happened; that this person can stand the test of affairs in the state. He should be thinking about the capability and capacity of the individual that he has chosen. It’s not because he just feels let’s just bring somebody on board. A deputy governor is a governor in waiting if the unfortunate happens.
So, Mr. Akeredolu not being well enough, indisposed and out of the country, Mr. Ayedatiwa became the Acting Governor. And I speak as a person who knows because I am from that state. I have participated in the political affairs of the state from PDP to APC to virtually every of the parties, so I know what I’m talking about. The deputy governor was being undermined by those who are within the government and when the Acting Governor calls for a meeting, they would not attend.
It was not his fault that he was made the Acting Governor. The constitution says if his boss was ill, he must take over; you must willy nilly obey but these people in the cabinet became what people called cabal or ‘kaba’ or ‘kaba,’ whichever one. They were never voted for. They are appointees of governor. Mr. Governor has a joint ticket with his deputy, he cannot tell his deputy go away, he does not lie in his mouth. There is a provision of the constitution by which he can institute processes to remove him from office and so for the period in which the governor was away, Ondo State was in the wilderness.
I heard of the situation when the deputy governor, or Acting Governor then, was to go for a meeting in Abuja, and he was told we don’t have money for you to go. I was told that when the man asked what about the Security Vote in case anything happens, he was told he was not to access it. I am telling you the fact. That was the state of affairs. So there was an Acting Governor that was acting in the air, there was a governor who was absent from duty, Ondo State was rudderless.
We had thought the situation would ameliorate and at least be reduced to the barest minimum. So when we heard that Mr. Governor was coming in, having worked with him, I worked with Akeredolu for almost a year plus or thereabout. I was appointed 18th of April 2017 and I left November 30th, 2018.
Mr. Akeredolu is not an introvert person, he is an extrovert. What he does not like, you will see it on his face, what he likes, he will tell you. There are times, he will go on stage and dance, so he’s a lively gentleman like that.
So we had thought coming back now, all of us would go to the airport in Akure with talking drums and all that to welcome him. All we witnessed was the Yar’Adua scenario. Surreptitiously, they said the man had arrived, where is he in Government House? Nobody could locate him. Then we began to hear, you need to enter an Hajji aeroplane to go to Ibadan for a pilgrimage to see the man and that is the scenario till now.
So those who saw him would be like the story of Alli and Angel, only wise men would enter the place and see him, you dare not go there. I was told, I was not there that the deputy governor went to see him, took some files to go and see him, he was not allowed to see him. If this is because of his state of health, that’s understandable. Because if a man is in that kind of state, you don’t allow all manner of persons to see him. But he campaigned to be the governor of Ondo State, if he can no longer do the work of the governor, then he should allow the people of this state to be governed. Our pilot cannot be sick and you will not allow his deputy or co- pilot to take over and we are here in Indian Ocean to plunge us there and we are saying no!
And, therefore, the situation in Ondo State as at now, makes the state like a flock of sheep without shepherd, we are shepherdless and everyone is moving in whatever direction he fits like. And these characters that I mentioned and their corps, together with the wife of Mr. Governor, Mrs. Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu, are the people managing the affairs of the state. They don’t want to hear this but Dr. Benson Enikuomehin will tell them to their face.
Yes, what you hear is Mr. Governor said; Akeredolu was not used to be hiding under the table, let us see our own Akeredolu
We heard that the governor has written to the State House of Assembly that he has resumed duties, and then what exactly, in your own view, led to the impeachment process against the deputy governor?
Well, you just mentioned that the governor wrote to the Assembly that he has resumed duties, that’s good enough, did he resume? It’s one thing to write, it’s another thing to fulfill the resumption. Who saw the governor when he was writing? This letter that was written ought to have been read on the floor of the House of Assembly. That letter is not to be written by the Chief of Staff to the governor nor any of his handlers. It should be the governor who wrote that I am going away for medical attention, now, I am back. I have come to resume, then you must resume. On a resumption day, the schools should open. If we don’t see the principal, we will see his vice, the students are wearing uniform. Where is Akeredolu since he came back? We have not seen the governor.
Have you on your own made an attempt to see him, the governor?
If his deputy could not see him, is it me that would see him? That place is a private house. It is Government House or Governor’s Office that I can make attempt to go. If I’m beaten black and blue, what will I say I am doing in Ibadan? Therefore, the coming back of that man should have been for him to say ‘God, I went through the valley of the shadow of death and now I have survived.’ Whatever Lucky Ayedatiwa might have done, whether rightly or wrongly, call the young man, Lucky is younger guy to him. ‘I heard you did this, I heard you did this.’
But what are the offences?
Do I know? It is the House of Assembly we learnt they wrote. Those are the things that we saw on social media. The offences said he stole money, he was supposed to travel for a conference, he didn’t go. That he bought SUV for N300million. That was a man who could not sign N20million from the cover of the money in state government’s account. He was a puppet Acting Governor.
So the governor went, took the power. Gave paper to Lucky Ayedatiwa, Lucky held on to paper, the paper was not strong enough to carry Lucky. Those who got the weight, they took the weight from him and he was just gallivanting the whole of the country and nothing and now they are back. We must remove this guy, he did this, he did that.
If Akeredolu is well enough, if he is the one in charge, if these characters I mentioned are not the one in charge, he should come and talk to us in the state. ‘My deputy has not done well.’ Now as soon as the governor came back, the House of Assembly came and said, ‘we saw impeachable offenses against Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa.’ Where were they before the governor came back? In my place, they say, the witch cried yesterday and a small child died this morning.
The implication is that the witch that cried last night has a hand in the small child that has died this morning. The arrival of Akeredolu, and the impeachment process told me clearly that the governor has something to do with the impeachment now that one of the particular charges is that he was plotting to remove the governor. So you must see the governor on seat, whether you decorate him or you do palliative or you package him, that he will just be there like dummy so that the governor is on seat, yes. So you can’t take the governor into a hole where nobody would see him again.
I call on the members of the House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker, and all of you that are there in that place, please, you will come, you will go, let Ondo State be the paramount interest in your mind. Yeah, Governor is the leader of the party. Yes, we agree. But if issue of this nature has happened, you people should behave like David Mark and Ekweremadu. When Yar’Adua situation was becoming unbearable, they came with the doctrine of necessity. Where are you people? They should be men and women of honour. Yes, governor has supported you, you’re not going to ridicule him. But Ondo State is bigger than all of you, and everyone.
If you look at the trajectory of the debate between the governors and their deputies in Nigeria, it’s becoming a controversial issue and a recurring one for that matter, don’t you think the constitution itself has a problem, as it does not explicitly declare the functions of the deputy governor so that there would be no clash when situation like this arises?
I think I am beginning to reason the way you are reasoning. What the draughtsman of the constitution expected was that a governor would choose his deputy that he reposes confidence in. If he is not around, the person can take charge. And if he chooses the deputy for exigency purpose, if problem arises, of course, he would face the consequences. I am beginning to think loudly that our lawmakers should now streamline what the functions of the deputy governor should be, both the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly lawmakers, you know they must concur to the amendment.
Do you know that these state Assemblies, the National Assembly came up with the amendment that they should give them autonomy, they voted against that; that they don’t want autonomy. You are inside a cage, and they said you should be set free, you said you don’t want to leave Kirikiri Prison. They say give Local Government autonomy because the governors have appropriated the resources of the Councils. They call something JAC, the governors have jacked all the local governments purses, and they (governors) say hey, hey, Speakers don’t do it. Because they were selected, they were not elected, what would they do? Get autonomy, get freedom, your financial freedom, you have voted against it. Ondo State House of Assembly was one of the state Assemblies that voted against their autonomy.
So this impeachment that is going on, the Speaker, all of them, if they tell themselves the truth, they would know that what killed the fish is not the floater. The hook is in the water. That is the hook that the fish has swallowed, but the floater will be shaking the head. So the House of Assembly is the floaters. The real things that are happening are these guys that are around the governor; Akeredolu may not do all these things.