‘My police escort has been withdrawn’ — Ondo deputy gov raises the alarm

Agboola Ajayi, deputy governor of Ondo state, has raised alarm over the withdrawal of his police escort.

In a statement on Wednesday, Babatope Okeowo, Ajayi’s chief press secretary, accused Bolaji Salami, Ondo commissioner of police, of stripping the deputy governor of his security apparatus.

The development is coming days after Salami and a group of police officers prevented the deputy governor from moving out of his official quarters at the government house.

Some of the supporters of Ajayi had said the police acted on the orders of Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of the state — an allegation Akeredolu denied.

Okeowo accused Salami of making Ajayi vulnerable to attacks.

He said the CP should be held responsible if anything happens to the deputy governor.

“The Ondo State Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Agboola Ajayi wishes to raise alarm over the withdrawal of his police escort on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Mr Bolaji Salami putting his life, family and staff in danger,” the statement read.

“This is the same Commissioner of Police that took the Deputy Governor hostage on Saturday 21st of June, 2020 for more than four hours at the Government House gate despite the fact that he enjoys immunity under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We are not oblivious of their surreptitious move to undermine the security of the Deputy Governor and strip him of his security apparatus to make him vulnerable in order to carry out their evil agenda.

“The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the Director General of State Security Service, Yusuf Magaji Bichi should be aware of this latest ugly development in Ondo State. Should anything happen to the Deputy Governor, his family and staff, the Commissioner of Police in Ondo State should be held responsible.”

Akeredolu and Ajayi have been having a running battle which finally led to the resignation of the deputy governor from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ajayi had defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he has indicated interest to run against the governor in October.

After the defection, the governor terminated the appointments of the aides attached to the deputy governor.