By Ayo Kehinde
The Ondo State government on Tuesday denied statements credited to the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, that the State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, is in a state of “extreme incapacity and hospitalised”, describing the reported statement as “mischievous, insensitive reportage sponsored by desperate politicians”.
APC Chairman, Adamu, had reportedly told APC State Chairmen during a meeting on Monday, that Akeredolu was “incapacitated and hospitalised”.
Reacting to the development on Tuesday, State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, urged the people of the State and Nigerians to ignore the report, saying the National Chairman of the APC was quoted out of context.
According to her, “The headline, “Akeredolu in state of extreme incapacity, hospitalised,” bore a tinge of the usual mischievous, wicked and insensitive reportage, sponsored by desperate politicians.
“The Chairman of the APC in Ondo State, Hon. Ade Adetimehin, who attended the meeting, has debunked the report as untrue and totally disconnected from the statement of the Chairman at the event.
“The National Chairman was indeed excited at the reports on the rate of recovery of the Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, and urged all those present at the meeting to pray for his quick return.
“It, therefore, smacks of mischief and unabashed abandonment of professional ethics for a reporter to present this gross misrepresentation, a mischievous twist, as news.
“At no time did the Chairman mention that the Governor was in a state of “extreme incapacity”. He is, evidently, not in any critical state that should warrant this clearly reprehensible conduct as he still sent a post to the Executive Council Committee platform yesterday.
“Members of the public are advised to ignore this news as the contents therein exist in the realm of the imagination of workers of iniquity.
“Mr. Governor is NOT incapacitated. He will return to his duty as soon as the doctors certify him fully fit to do so.”
Recall that Governor Akeredolu had, on Monday, informed the Ondo State House of Assembly of his intention to extend his medical leave.
