Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu has said that he will not report his predecessor and friend of over 40 years, Dr Olusegun Mimiko to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission because of political differences.
This was contained in a statement issued by the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo.
The social media has been awashed with news that Former Governor Mimiko may be arrested by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allowing Akeredolu’s Deputy, Agboola Ajayi to contest the October 10 governorship election under his political party, Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
But Akeredolu described the rumour as a blatant lie planted to destroy his relationship with Mimiko spanning over 40 years.
He said the widely circulated story is untrue, puerile and utterly mischievous, stressing that such story is a cleverly laid path for the two friends to engage in a needless mudslinging.
According to him, his friendship with Mimiko remains unaffected by the current political permutations, alignments and realignment.
The statement reads “The attention of the Ondo State Government has been drawn to a viral post circulating in a section of the social media. The post specifically makes allusion to an imaginary statement ascribed to Governor Akeredolu wherein he allegedly threatened to expose his friend of over four decades and former Governor, Olusegun Rahman Mimiko, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“The widely circulated story line is untrue, puerile and utterly mischievous. It is, in all intents, a cleverly laid path for the two friends to engage in a needless mudslinging.
“It is, perhaps, pertinent to state unequivocally that Governor Akeredolu does not desire, not even in the least of anyone’s imagination, to travel such pernicious path typical of those who have taken the route of perfidy for sake of their political ambitions. We have since wished them well even in their self-inflicted tears of treachery and betrayal.
“Clearly too, the former Governor, in Governor Akeredolu’s view, is well acquainted with the antecedents of those who have chosen to embrace any straw, including those they had mindlessly plotted against in the past, to keep their waning political comfort zones afloat.
“Nonetheless, while Governor Akeredolu has nothing against his friend and immediate past predecessor, he has chosen to allow posterity to intercede and interpret the roles of men in whatever form.
“In this regard, the friendship of the duo shall remain unaffected by the current political permutations, alignments and realignment, however impotently strange. Governor Akeredolu shall maintain that cordiality even in the face of opportunism,” he added.
Akeredolu noted that he remains unperturbed by forces of whatever colouration, stressing that he is resolute and unwavering in his belief that a more debilitating defeat awaits those who have chosen to travel the route of conspiracy come October 10, 2020.