Ondo State Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, said on Sunday that he was instrumental to the victory of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and the All Progressives Congress in the 2016 governorship poll in the state.
Ajayi, who has been at loggerheads with the governor before and after he left the APC and join the Peoples Democratic Party, was reacting to a statement by the governor that he was a wrong choice as a deputy.
Akeredolu was said to have made the statement on Saturday at the meeting of the APC party delegates at Ese Odo Local Government Area.
The governor reportedly said despite the criticism and attack from various quarters alleging that Ajayi was his cousin, he felt he made a wrong choice.
However in a statement issued by his media aide, Tope Okeowo, the embattled deputy governor said such a statement from the governor could only come from a frustrated politician.
The statement titled, ‘Re: I wrongly chose Agoola Ajayi as deputy,’, read, “We understand the frustration of Governor Akeredolu over his inability to remove his deputy illegally through the instrumentality of the House of Assembly having heavily induced them with state fund to do so.
“Many injuries Governor Akeredolu caused himself cannot be blamed on his deputy, Agboola Ajayi who he has sidelined for the past three and half years.
“It must be put on record that Akeredolu contested in 2012 governorship election and came a distant third in the election won by Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of Labour Party.
“It was the experience, weight and political capital Ajayi brought into the 2016 gubernatorial election that produced the current APC led government in the state.
“If there is any wrong choice, it is Governor Akeredolu who has refused to take all-wise counsel not only from his Deputy but by senior citizens of Ondo State.”