The sickness of Aketi, his last days on sick bed and eventual death threw up many ugly events that turned Brothers against Brothers and loyalists against loyalists.
It would have been interesting to see Aketi recovering from the sickness and to see how he would have put his house, Associates and family in order. Alas! wicked death denied him such a privilege. May His Soul rest in peace.
The only record and testament that can be said and written about this great son of Owo Kingdom, Olurotimi Akeredolu was before the devastating sickness took over his strength, energy and body system.
Any record written when Aketi was sick and not functional is hearsay and cannot be accurate. Therefore disloyalty when Aketi was sick can be disputed and faulted. Till date there is no record in the public domain of Aketi reprimanding or giving querry to his COS or any of his inner subordinates on being disloyal and untrustworthy.
Therefore labelling somebody disloyal or a betrayal cannot be totally correct or verifiable because it was never established that Rotimi Akeredolu was in charge of Government during the challenging period.
There were rumours of cabals running the Government. In fact there were allegations of forging the signature of Aketi on Government memos. How do you now confuse loyalty to Rotimi Akeredolu to loyalty to the cabals. How do you label people who refuse to be loyal to a group of unelected people as disloyalty to the person of Aketi.
How do you confuse officials who respected the Constitutional provision of a Deputy Governor becoming an Acting Governor for the smooth running of the State as disloyalty and betrayal of Aketi. Let us assess these Officials only when Aketi was fit and proper not when he was in sickness and unable to function in Office.
Politics is a game of serving an interest, the interest of a community or Nation. Politics is a game of nursing an ambition and grabbing power. Even when you are loyal to a Godfather, the loyalty is to enable you grab power or a position. There is no blind loyalty in politics.
The death of Aketi cannot be the eclipse of the political career of his Associates, loyalists or even his Son Babajide. Definitely, the death of Aketi should not be the end of the political career of his COS or the end of his Constitutional right to associate freely and exercise his choice of candidate. The legacy of Aketi should survive and this can only materialized through a Governorship Aspirant with the best opportunity of becoming Governor in 2025. Let us play politics of decency devoid of character assassination. It is well.
~Foluso Adebisi
Writes from Owo, ONDO state
