PDP ,Ondo Govt clash over Akeredolu's daughter’s Wedding in Mauritius

The wedding ceremony of governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s daughter held in far away Mauritius over the weekend has generated recations and counter reactions between PDP, the main opposition party in Ondo state and the state government.

The wedding ceremony which has gone viral on social media was attended by political office holders including the legislative arm as led by the speaker Ondo house of assembly ,Bamidele Oloyeloogun who led other lawmakers to attend the wedding.

Governor Akeredolu had held traditional wedding and church service versions of the wedding in Owo ,his hometown few months ago.

The wedding was also attended by who is who in Nigeria’s politics including the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The PDP however saw the wedding in Mauritius as waste of state resources especially coming at a time many people in the state are suffering .

In a statement by Zadok Akintoye, PDP Director of Media and Publicity in Ondo State, the party claimed that public funds were expended on the trips of all participants.

The statement reads in part “The recent outcry of citizens of this state against the vexatious display of insensitivity by the Governor of Ondo state, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu SAN, remains another testament of the lack of empathy by the APC-led government towards the difficult challenges currently being faced by citizens.

Considering very carefully the deplorable condition of public infrastructure in the state, the high number of students in public universities who have been forced to either suspend or fully abandon their academic pursuits, the inability of this government to provide basic and affordable healthcare, one would have expected the governor to show some minimal level of empathy expected of a public servant superintending over a government that has increased taxes and levies paid by citizens and forced many to seek survival through pain.

It is on record that this APC-led government, remains the most anti-people government in the history of Ondo state and one that has glorified crony capitalism, nepotism, tribalism and wanton disregard for the welfare of the people.

Within the last two years, the governor has celebrated weddings of his children across the world from Canada to the United States and now Mauritius at the expense of citizens of this state without any sense of respect to the people he leads. How else can one explain the present display of affluence and disdain for the people?

The feeble response from the media aides of this government further underlines the disdain with which the APC treats issues of great concern to the people.

We therefore ask this government to face the serious issues of providing good governance rather than turning the administration of public wealth and resources into an opportunity for grandiose parties and jamboree.

The indefensible response from the Honorable Commissioner for Information, Mr. Donald Ojogo that only five cabinet members graced the occasion, can at best be seen as a deliberate attempt misinform the citizens.

Its on record that members of the Cabinet, the Speaker and Members of the state House of Assembly, Aides and Assistants of this Governor, numbering almost 100 attended the wedding in Mauritius.

For a government that has not been able to mobilize its aides to deal with the deplorable state of public infrastructure in the state, such a visit is not only needless but irresponsible and shows clearly what the priorities of this government are.

Finally, we put this government on notice that its’ reckless abandonment of the good of the people will be remembered when this government is replaced by a more people friendly PDP government in 2020.”

The state government through the commissioner for information and orientation ,Donald Ojogo, however regarded the claims of the PDP as needless and baseless saying “The attention of the Ondo State Government has been drawn to the needless insinuations surrounding the wedding ceremony of the daughter of Govermor Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN in Mauritius over the weekend.

First, the baleful narratives deliberately churned out to the public were not in unexpected. This is more so that the quality of those who attended the event has the capacity to draw such carousal inspirations that state funds were spent on the travel and other expenditures of those who were at the ceremony.

It is perhaps, pertinent to state that the erroneous impression being created by those behind the unsavoury perspectives that the entire members of the State Executive Council attended the event is not just puerile but pernicious. For the records, not more than five of the 30-member Cabinet graced the event at their personal expense.

We therefore plead with sponsors of such unholy narratives to be kind enough to provide evidence of State Government’s funds spent on those who attended the wedding ceremony.

Perhaps, this would go a long way in establishing a more believable perspective that could give credence to their efforts. At least, such will suffice better than the post-dated December 29, 30 and 31 2019 Emirates Flight Ticket that is apparently disingenuous.”