My Deputy Tried To Unseat Me Even Though I Paid Him N13m Monthly — Governor Akeredolu

Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has opened up about his frosty relationship with his deputy, Agboola Ajayi, which forced the latter to dump the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to contest the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

KanyiDailh recalls that Ajayi later defected to the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) after failing to secure the PDP ticket for the October 10 governorship election in Ondo.

Speaking while being featured on a Radio personality programme in Akure, Governor Akeredolu said he gave his deputy “wide room to operate but he later betrayed me by wanting to unseat me despite making him the highest paid deputy governor in the country.

“l ensured that Ajayi was well paid in order to make him comfortable in office despite all warnings from different quarters that he should not entrust Ajayi with power”.

“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 .”

The governor, however, said he was ready to forgive all his detractors, saying as a Christian, he would not begrudge anyone.

This is coming just weeks after Ajiyi raised alarm over alleged plans by Akeredolu to attack him using thugs during his campaign in the northern part of Ondo state.