A civil society group, Ikale Vanguard for Peace and Justice, has charged Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to be mindful of ethnic jingoists, politicians, and crook business opportunists fanning embers of disunity, ethnicity, and disaffection, plotting to take advantage of his administration to achieve their selfish and divisive interests that are capable of throwing the state into violence.
In a statement by the national chairman, Dr Ademola Aiyekomogbon, while reacting to a call by the National Union of Okitipupa Local Government Students on Governor Aiyedatiwa to investigate the finances of Okitipupa Oil Palm (OOP) Plc and sack the Managing Director, Mr Taiwo Adewole, on an unfounded and generalised allegation of fraud, the group noted that the faceless group was conjured by selfish and disgruntled individuals who had tried in vain to get Adewole removed because he hailed from the same town (Owo) as the late and immediate past Governor of the state, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN).
The group also condemned a similar call on the governor by one Canada-based Jimi Adekanle on Aiyedatiwa to remove Adewole and replace him with an Ikale extraction Managing Director, noting that such a move was a brazen ethnicity capable of provoking avoidable ethnic violence in the state.
In the view of the group, “this call becomes more reprehensible, illegal, illogical, and unjust against the hard fact that the company is not owned by the Ikale nation even though it is sited there; it is owned by Nigerians across the country, where Ondo State, like others, is only one of the shareholders.”
The group further noted that one other reason why Adewole was being hunted and wanted to be removed at all costs was as a result of some uncompromising policies he introduced to revamp the moribund firm and rescue it from the killing hands of those behind the faceless group, other mafia and criminal kingpins who looted and coordinated illegal harvesting of the company’s palm fruits in all its plantations for over a decade.”
In the statement, the Ikale group made it clear that, “We are not opposed to promoting transparency and accountability at OOP Plc when it arises from a genuine and unbiased incident, but this is not the case in this matter.”
According to the group, the call was “malicious, strange, mischievous, and misleading as it did not make reference to any particular case of stealing, fraud, missing funds in the company, or allegation by the Board of Directors.”.
In its view, Adewole ought to be celebrated and honoured for his managerial ingenuity in rescuing the company from the jaws of death, killer mafia and kingpins of illegal harvesters, and for taking the firm from the mud of indebtedness to its current financial viability, holding AGM held 20 years ago and paying dividends last paid 26 years ago.”
It therefore charged Aiyedatiwa not to allow himself to be unconsciously used by faceless individuals who were now playing ethnic cards, adding that “the restoration of life back to OOP Plc was one of the legacy achievements of his late boss, Akeredolu, and we should be careful not to unwittingly return it to devourers.”
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