The Ondo State governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa and his deputy, Olayide Adelami are reportedly not in the best of terms. This development has left the de
The Ondo State governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa and his deputy, Olayide Adelami are reportedly not in the best of terms.
This development has left the deputy governor shuttling between hotels in Akure at a significant cost to the state.
Since February 2024, when the new government in Ondo was sworn in, Adelami, a former Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly and ex-governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), his political exile was already in motion — one that would see Adelami locked out of the official deputy governor’s residence and shuffled between hotels like a travelling salesman.
He has reportedly stayed in at least four hotels.
Government insiders reveal that the accommodation issue is rooted in political mistrust and power struggle. Even though there is a deputy governor’s lodge and a VIP lodge in the government house that was recently renovated, he was barred from using them.
Ironically, the deputy governor’s predicament mirrors what Aiyedatiwa endured under the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who sidelined him during a political rift in 2023, even prompting an impeachment attempt. That crisis only ended after President Bola Tinubu intervened.
Although the state government has denied this, sources close to the seat of power are of the opinion that the idea is to keep him politically distant and avoid a power struggle.
Although their feud began in February, it only became public knowledge in August.
Analysts warn that the lodge saga is more than a personal feud, they label it a symptom of Ondo’s factionalised politics, where alliances are fragile and state resources double as instruments of control.
For now, the deputy governor’s lodge remains locked, the deputy remains in hotels, and the questions about governance, loyalty, and public funds remain unanswered.
