By Maria Ifafesobi
Akure
Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s son, Babajide Akeredolu has promised to sue the deputy governor and the Zenith Labour Party’s (ZLP) candidate in the forthcoming governorship election, Mr. Agboola Ajayi who accused him of getting a share of N433 million naira N4.3bn stashed in the state government’s secret government account.
Mr. Babajide Akeredolu made this known in a statement made available to newsmen Today, in Akure the state capital.
Technocrat media gathered that Mr. Ajayi during the Zenith Labour Party’s flag-off in Ore, on Saturday had alleged that the governor’s son made a sum of N433 million naira as consultancy fee from the money recovered even when he had not offered such service.
The statement read, “My attention has been drawn to the spurious allegations made against me by Hon. Agboola Ajayi, the Gubernatorial candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) during his flag-off campaign rally on the 19th of September, 2020 at Ore in Odigbo local government area.
“This deliberate, malicious, and mendacious statement has been making the rounds online and on social media platforms. The unsubstantiated claim and accusation, designed to mislead the general public and calculated to malign my person for clear political gain, is not only wicked, treacherous, and false but clearly most defamatory.
“The allegation, which has been making the round without a face to it has been refuted by the state government when it first surfaced. While I find it imperative to state unambiguously that I do not hold any political office, it is evil and most wicked to make such an allegation that exists mainly in the minds of Hon. Agboola, the ZLP candidate, and his ilk against me.
“I state with emphasis that it is the greatest disrespect and intentional distortion of facts for the said Gubernatorial candidate of the ZLP to state inter alia that I siphoned Four hundred and thirty-three million nairas of Ondo State’s funds under the disguise of consultancy fees.
“This allegation which I deny can only come from someone so lowly and frivolous and unexpected of anyone who holds the high office of a Deputy Governor.
“The statement by Hon. Agboola Ajayi was calculated to disparage my person and credibility and it has caused severe damage to my reputation and professional interests.
“In light of the above, I have instructed my lawyers to institute legal action against Hon. Agboola Ajayi to claim full damages for the harm the false and malicious statement he made has done to my reputation.
“He must prove this allegation in the court of law. If there is any modicum of honesty in the ZLP candidate, I expect that he shows a clear willingness to do the honorable thing by stripping himself of his immunity and accept the court process and prove his claims in the court of law.”
It would be recalled that a sum of N4.3bn which sparked a lot of controversies when discovered in May 2020 during auditing of the state, was kept in a secret account for over 10 years, generating interest.
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