Ondo State Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, has debunked rumour that he may resign from office this week, declaring that his tenure will end next year February 23, 2021.

Ajayi, who is the governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in the just-concluded governorship election in the state, said he would finish the first term tenure with Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

This was the sequel to the public declaration of the governor, who had said that the deputy governor knows what to do, purportedly to resign since he left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for ZLP.

The Media Adviser to the Deputy Governor, Allen Sowore, in a statement made available to journalists in Akure, on Tuesday, dispelled Ajayi’s resignation.

Sowore, who alleged that the purported resignation was sponsored by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu as propaganda through the machinery of the state’s Ministry of Information, described it “as a subterfuge in preparation for a macabre plan to put the deputy governor’s forged signature on a prepared resignation letter.

“The general public should be wary of these latest antics and desperation of the governor to remove his deputy by all means and at any costs illegally.

“The people of Ondo State, who voted for Agboola Ajayi as Deputy Governor in 2016 have not asked him to resign or quit the government.

“Therefore, he has no reason whatsoever to relinquish the people’s mandate, which of course is limited by term/time as democratically bestowed upon him.”

Meanwhile, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Donald Ojogo, said: “It should be the height of insensitivity to dissipate energy on whatever the ZLP candidate may have said in respect of the above subject matter.”

“Governor Akeredolu will rather deepen efforts as regards the current national concern of youths’ protests.

“All the same, one does not expect anything less from a thoroughly beaten and politically-minimized egocentric being. The circumstances feeding his outburst are clearly understood.

“This is not the first time he would unveil untruths, not only about others but about himself too. Forgery cannot, and has never been part of this government.

“The signature of anyone is too insignificant to be forged. It’s not in the character of the governor or anyone in government he heads.

“It is left for Agboola Ajayi to place his conscience before the moral square as far as the claim about his position as deputy governor is concerned.

“Those whose identities are shrouded in such vices as forgery, perjury, and made-up inadequacies are already some distances away from the government led by Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu. They know themselves.” (The Guardian)

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