President Bola Tinubu has instructed the unwell Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State to delegate his powers to his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa. However, due to the governor’s weakened state, the power transfer will occur using an electronic signature (e-signature) as he is unable to physically sign any documents.
Reportedly, Tinubu informed those gathered at a meeting convened on Monday to address the leadership crisis in Ondo that Akeredolu’s health condition prevents him from signing any letters. Tinubu is said to have summoned the state’s deputy governor, Aiyedatiwa, and the House of Assembly Speaker, Olamide Oladiji, to an urgent meeting at Aso Villa in Abuja.
This meeting was the second emergency session called by President Tinubu to address the leadership crisis in the state, arising from the governor’s absence from office since July 2023.
The urgency was prompted by mounting pressure from the civil society organization Take-It-Back, which threatened mass protests across Ondo State starting from Saturday, December 16, demanding Akeredolu’s resignation.
The ailing governor has been missing since returning to Nigeria in September from a three-month medical leave in Germany.
Present at the meeting, besides Aiyedatiwa and Oladiji, was Akeredolu’s son, Babajide, appointed as the Director General of the Performance and Project Implementation Monitoring Unit in November 2021.
Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, representing Ondo South, was also in attendance. Sources revealed that there was an initial agreement to invoke the doctrine of necessity by the State House of Assembly to appoint Aiyedatiwa as the acting governor.
However, during the meeting, it was argued that such an action might humiliate the ailing governor.
Subsequently, Babajide offered to obtain his father’s e-signature to draft a letter to the State House of Assembly, officially transferring power to the deputy governor.
