Ondo deputy governor alleges withdrawal of security aide, threat to life

• Plans legal action against alleged impeachment plot
• I am not aware of allegation, says police spokesperson
• Ajayi’s insistence in office threat to Akeredolu, group insists

Ondo State Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, has raised the alarm that his life is in danger following withdrawal of his security personnel by the state Commissioner for Police, Mr. Bolaji Salami.

In a statement made available to journalists yesterday in Akure by the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor, Babatope Okeowo, Ajayi said that the lives of his family members and members of staff were in danger.

The statement said: “The Ondo State Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, wishes to raise the alarm over the withdrawal of his police escort on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bolaji Salami, thereby putting his life, family members and members of staff in danger.”

“We are not oblivious of their surreptitious move to undermine the security of the deputy governor and strip him of his security apparatus to make him vulnerable to enable them carry out their evil agenda.”

Meanwhile, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Teo-Leo Ikoro, has denied the report, saying he was not aware of the withdrawal.

In another development, the embattled deputy governor was said to have perfected plans to commence legal processes to forestall his possible impeachment by the state House of Assembly.

The Guardian learnt that the Assembly, police, Department of State Services (DSS), as well as the state Chief Judge, might be served with necessary court processes latest Tuesday next week.

The delay till next week, it was gathered, was linked with the options of filing the court processes outside Akure, the Ondo State capital.

However, the Ondo State Integrity Movement (OSIM) has raised the alarm that the insistence of Ajayi to remain in office was a security threat to Governor Akeredolu.

The group, in a statement signed by its Co-ordinator, Lateef Adesina Agbede, said there was more to mere allusion to constitutional provisions by Ajayi, saying: “The most honourable thing is for him to resign his position as deputy governor because what you didn’t find pleasant in the APC, you cannot find in an APC government.”