The embattled deputy governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, has described as falsehood the allegations against him by the governor Rotimi Akeredolu, over his office and sundry security and political issues.
Ajayi who denied receiving N13 million as monthly allocation said the governor released the sum N12m only to his office monthly.
He expressed dismay that the governor could go to the press announcing the sum of N13m as his monthly allocation as if it was a gift for the personal use and not for the use of his office, but said: “this includes the imprest of his office, allowances of staff, fuelling of vehicles, care of his residence and welfare of his aides.”
“Huge as the amount may appear, it amounts to not so much when the heads and number of individuals it caters for are considered.”
He also alleged the governor of receiving N750m monthly as security votes, saying the governor is also receiving about N150m as imprest.
“His wife, though occupies no constitutionally recognised position, takes an imprest of N15million per month. Apart from this, she collects an additional sum of N11m from the Ministry of Women Affairs, which she runs like a potentate.”
But the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Segun Ajiboye, in a statement signed by him said the deputy governor mindset of greed has misled him over his claim on the N750m security vote.
Ajiboye said “the disclosure by Mr Governor that the governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party(ZLP) receives a monthly running grant of N13 million appears to have further emitted the entrenched character of the man in question, Agboola Ajayi.
“True to type, Ajayi has resorted to lies and fabrications that Mr Governor gets a monthly payment of N750million as security vote. This brazen misinformation is not a surprise but a true reflection of the unstable and treacherous content in Ajayi.
“The general public is urged to take advantage of the Freedom of Information Act to interrogate both statements by Mr Governor and Ajayi. For the avoidance of doubt, the state bureaucracy which processes such payments is very available to confirm the veracity or frivolity of either of the statements.
“The October 10 governorship election is between integrity and the absence of it. The patent greed which has provided motivation for the treachery and perfidy of Ajayi appears to have created further paths of dishonesty to oil his political misadventure. Succinctly, he is misled my his mind of greed.
“By his antecedents, Agboola Ajayi would have wittingly provided evidence of the payment of such huge amount even before now if it was true.”
Akeredolu has on Thursday expressed disappointment in his embattled deputy governor, saying he betrayed him despite giving him a wide room to operate freely.
Akeredolu said apart from giving him a free hand, he ensured that his embattled deputy was well paid in order to make him comfortable in the office.
He said, “Agboola (Ajayi) does not want to wait for his time. I made him comfortable, I asked him to represent me in so many places but some people were warning me, I said they should leave him alone.
“No deputy governor has collected what he was collecting in the history of the state. I gave him N13million monthly, his predecessors did not collect as much as that.
“No deputy governor collects as much as that in Nigeria. I gave him enough room to operate yet he betrayed me.”
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