Sooner or later, Ondo State goveror will issue a "Thank you go back home Order" to Exrcutive Council members. And no doubt it, FEAR and tension have reportedly gripped the 24
Ondo State Executive Council members over this speculation of a
possible dissolution by the governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko
before May 29.
Also, Chairmen of boards and parastatals are not exempted
from the reportedly impending hammer .
Reasons being that four ministries are presently without a
supervising Commissioners.
This has fuelled the speculation that Mimiko may soon
dissolve the cabinet in order to fill the vacancies.
The four Commissioners who left the cabinet have either
stepped up politically or excused themselves from the cabinet
to pursue their personal businesses.
With the development, others in the cabinet are said to be
living in fear that the go home order from the governor may
not be too long .
The commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Lasisi Oluboyo has
been promoted to a higher seat of the Deputy governor
following the impeachment of the erstwhile Deputy governor,
Alhaji Ali Olanusi.
Also, the Commissioner for Community Development and
Cooperatives, Clement Faboyede is now occupying the exalted
seat of the state Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP.
Former Commissioner for Employment and Productivity, Iroju
Ogundeji was lucky to be elected as a member of the State
House of Assembly to represent the people of Odigbo
constituency .
Another cabinet member who had been a Commissioner for six
years and a former member of the state assembly, Hon. Remi
Olatubora has excused himself from the cabinet to face his
legal business.
Infact he is the leading counsel of the candidates of the PDP
in the National and State House of Assembly whose victories
are been challenged at the election Petition Tribunal by the
candidates of the APC.
With the four vacancies, political observers are of the opinion
that the dissolution of the EXCO is just a matter of days.
Many believed that the dissolution may come before May 29
to give room for a fresh start.
We learnt that if eventually the governor decides to give
the “thank you please go back home order” the crop of
commissioners to be appointed would be purely politicians
with grassroot support that can win elections any day,
anytime and not yesterday’s politicians.
The “not too good” outcome of the last general election in the
state where the PDP performed abysmally is said to have left
the governor with no option than to go for real politicians and
not paper weight who are not relevant in their constituencies.
Also, we learnt that some leaders of the old PDP who
worked for the governor to frustrate the impeachment threat
of the APC in the state especially during the state assembly
election may be compensated in the new EXCO.
The leaders such as Dr. Bode Olajumoke, Kingsley Kuku,
Adedayo Omolafe popularly called Expensive, Femi Adekanmbi,
Segun Adegoke, Prof. Olu Agbi and Dr. Dare Bada, Ebenezer
Alabi, Olabisi Johnson, and a host of others across the state
may be asked to suggest nominees to be considered in the
next EXCO.
Someone also said that if eventually the dissolution happens,
barely few of the present EXCO members will survive the
sledge hammer.
Political observers say that many of them do not have any
electoral weight in their constituencies but are only living
under the shadow of the governor.
They believed that if the PDP want to continue to rule the
state after the expiration of the governor’s tenure, real
politicians who are political weight should come on board
now.
But a reliable source in government house said that there was
no cause for alarm as the governor has no intention to
dissolve his cabinet at the moment.
Our source pointedly said that “the alleged dissolution is a
mere speculation and not on the mind of the governor for
now. The governor is a team player. If he wants to dissolve
the cabinet, he is at liberty to do so but that is not on the
table for now.”