Aiyedatiwa: Ondo legislator Makinde criticizes colleagues over Tinubu letter

Biola Makinde, a representative for the Ondo West/Ondo East Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, has chastised her colleagues over the letter they sent President Bola Tinubu regarding Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s alleged anti-party activities.

Makinde, who claimed that the state caucus members had lied, advised the federal MPs not to inflame the political climate or increase political tension by spreading false information about Aiyedatiwa.

In an open letter to Tinubu on Friday, lawmakers Adegboyega Adefarati (Akoko South West/South East), Festus Ayodele (Ileoluji-Okeigbo/Odigbo), Odimayo John (Okitipupa/Irele), Adesida Abiodun (Akure North/South), Timehin Adelegbe (Owo/Ose), and Odimayo John (Okitipupa/Irele) claimed that Aiyedatiwa had been showing disrespect to the late Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

The MPs said that by dismissing Akeredolu’s supporters and installing people thought to be his rivals, Aiyedatiwa had been forming connections with their late leader’s political rivals.

In addition, the legislators claimed that the removal of the state cabinet and the caretaker committees at the local councils was a blatant violation of the arrangement made with Tinubu prior to Akeredolu’s passing.

The MPs urged the president to take action on the matter and cautioned that if the situation worsens before the upcoming gubernatorial elections, the All Progressives Congress, or APC, may fall behind the opposition political parties.

Makinde, who chastised his colleagues for the move, claimed that the lawmakers’ only worry was that they might be able to return to the National Assembly in 2027 because of Aiyedatiwa’s growing popularity in the state after Akeredolu’s death.

The lawmaker asserted that the lawmakers intended to disturb the state’s tranquility, characterizing the letter’s contents as a calculated attempt to obtain an unfair advantage through deceit and pointing out that the lawmakers did nothing during the political unrest that almost brought the state to collapse last year.

“It is necessary to make things clear because I want history to be fair to me. Respectfully, I believe that this letter has exposed those inside the party who want to foment discord rather than work to resolve it.

It is counterproductive, he claimed, for lawmakers who are prominent members of their own communities to suddenly become involved in defending the late former governor Rotimi Akeredolu, whom they deserted when he was still alive.