By Uche Amunike
The Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has sacked one of his aides, Adeboye Taofiq Ewenla, over allegations of N30 million bribery, leveled against him.
The sack of the aide, who is his Special Assistant on Forestry (Central Senatorial District), takes immediate effect.
Speaking, through a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, Governor Aiyedatiwa ordered that a probe be conducted into the allegation.
His aide, Ewenla had allegedly demanded N30m in a leaked video, from timber traders operating in the state, making threats that he would expel them from the forest reserves if they failed to pay the amount.
This infuriated the timber traders, making them decide to carry out a protest, following an alleged claim by Ewenla that he was acting according to instructions given by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
The traders did not believe that Aiyedatiwa would demand such an amount from them, as the profits they make in a year was not up to that amount supposedly demanded by him. One of the members of the timber traders’ union who pleaded to remain anonymous described the demand as ‘criminal and oppressive’, stating that it was unfair for the government to make such demands of them, at this time that every Nigerian is struggling under the harsh economic realities of the policies introduced by the Tinubu-led government.
His words: ‘We are struggling to survive under the harsh policies, and now they want to extort us with outrageous demands.’
On his part, Governor Aiyedatiwa, who maintained that Ewenla would be replaced soon, stated that the activities of everyone manning the forest reserves across the states would be investigated.
The sacked aide, on his part, has however reacted to the allegation leveled against him, accusing him of soliciting bribes worth N30m from the timber operators.
Speaking through a statement which he made available to Newsmen in Akure, Mr. Ewenla stated that the allegations were false and that they are merely made to tarnish his image, just because he was seen as a stumbling block to illegal activities ongoing in government forest reserves.
His words: ‘I would like to categorically state that the allegation is false and the whole issue was orchestrated to tarnish my image because I was considered a major stumbling block to illegal activities in government forest reserves.’
‘Ondo State Government had already banned deforestation of any kind and prevented them from operating there. Before they can operate, they have to pay a certain amount to government coffers. The money being talked about is meant for the government. It is not to be paid into my personal account.’
‘All I was committed to was trying to put sanity into the job. All my activities are directed to increasing the internally generated revenue of the state government.’
‘I accept the decision of Mr Governor who appointed me and deemed it fit to relieve me. It is, however, important to make this clarification for official reasons.’
Ewenla, who was sacked on Wednesday, was one of the 316 people appointed as Special Assistants on September 6, 2024, barely a month ago, to key into the governor’s vision in running Ondo State.
