Anarchy in Ondo as thugs beat Commissioner to pulp over bursary award
By Emma Ogbuehi
Commissioner representing Ondo Central in the Ondo State Oil Development Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC), Kehinde Akinrotoye, popularly known as ‘BonsueAketi’, has been hospitalised after he was beaten to pulp by hoodlums.
This is the second time hoodlums will be attacking a commissioner in the state in two months.
It will be recalled that in September, Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Bunmi Osadahun, was attacked over distribution of palliatives.
Ondo State has been on auto-pilot without effective leadership since ill-health incapacitated the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
He has not come to office in months even after returning from a long medical tourism in Germany.
Despite his obvious incapacitation,his deputy, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has not been allowed to function.
Instead, concerted efforted are being made by the state House of Assembly to impeach him, thereby creating a yawning leadership vacuum.
This week, elders in Ondo State expressed worry over the lingering political crisis in the state, especially concerning Akeredolu, Aiyedatiwa and the Assembly.
The elders, who held a meeting on Tuesday, at the instance of the national leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, at his residence in Akure, called on President Bola Tinubu and the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Umar Ganduje to intervene and resolve the crisis.
The elders, who decried the development, observed that the lack of communication between the governor and his deputy had resulted in the inability of the deputy governor to perform constitutional duties on behalf of the governor for the good governance of the state.
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The thugs stormed the premises of OSOPADEC and disrupted the disbursement of bursary and scholarship award by the intervention agency.
They shot sporadically into the air after preventing the ceremony from taking off.
Staff of the agency and students scampered for safety.
One of the staff who pleaded anonymity said the hoodlums came in hired vehicles.
The staff said the thugs targeted the Commissioner and beat him to pulp after they accused him of not being worthy of membership of the commission because he hails from a non-oil producing area.
It was gathered that the vehicle that brought Akinrotoye was destroyed and vandalized by the hoodlums.
Men of the Ondo State Police Command were called in to restore normalcy.
