• Laments blockage of operational funds, inaccessibility of project sites
• Says media team suffering in silence
An internal crisis erupted at the weekend within the administration of Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, with one of his media aides, Taiwo Gbamila, accusing two commissioners in the state of sabotage.
Gbamila, who is the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Multimedia, emphasised that the Commissioner for Infrastructure, Abiola Olawoye, and his Finance counterpart, Wunmi Isaac, had been hindering efforts to properly promote the governor’s projects and strides.
The stance of the governor’s aide was in reaction to the position of Olawoye, who purportedly launched an attack on the governor’s media aides last Friday during an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Akure, the state capital.
Olawoye had, during the meeting, accused the governor’s media aides of shirking in their responsibilities in showcasing the ongoing projects of his ministry.
Infuriated by the development, Gbamila, in a 12-minute 59-second video, said that Olawoye and Isaac had been frustrating the governor’s media team in their efforts to showcase and highlight Aiyedatiwa’s accomplishments.
According to the governor’s media aide, Olawoye, since his appointment, has been unavailable, saying that when the Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, set up a committee, which he was made the chairman to identify and showcase the governor’s projects, the infrastructure commissioner repeatedly blocked the team from accessing project sites.
Gbamila, who also took a swipe at the Commissioner for Finance for withholding operational funds and running grants for the governor’s media unit for nine months, maintained that “we are just suffering in silence. Yet, you both always blame us for the issues that you created.”
Meanwhile, as of press time, Olawoye and Isaac have not reacted to the allegations, but a top cabinet member, who craved anonymity, revealed that the outburst of Gbamila, who is known to be a reserved gentleman, was due to bottled-up tension within the administration, which many appointees of Aiyedatiwa have silently complained about.
