“Perhaps, you do not realize it: You and these 26 members are the only ones who truly carry the mandate of the people. The people, it was, who trooped out to elect them as they did you too.
Akindele, a former Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, has chastised Governor Rotimi Akeredolu for treating the disgruntled state lawmakers like his “errand boys”.
Mrs. Akindele said this while reacting to a video showing Governor Akeredolu charging at the lawmakers over a false story of a snake entering the legislative chamber.
This would be the first time the erstwhile female speaker would rise in defence of her colleagues since she was ousted in 2017.
Last week Saturday, Mr. Akeredolu visited the Assembly complex to verify the claims of the legislators over the appearance of a big snake during their sitting.
The governor, while speaking to journalists shortly after his visit, said his findings revealed that the beleaguered parliamentarians were out to blackmail his government.
The governor stated that the falsehood peddled by the members of the Ondo Assembly was a "grand connivance within the lawmakers" to ridicule the integrity of the state.
But Mrs. Akindele, in her statement obtained by Sahara Reporters on Monday, said the governor abused his power and authority by charging at members of the Ondo State House of Assembly in the viral video.
She lampooned Mr. Akeredolu and stated that he was ‘completely out of order’ by making the public to see the lawmakers as ‘cowards’.
“My attention has been drawn to a video in which you, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) as governor of Ondo State charged at the members of the State House of Assembly, accusing them of blackmail, dubiousness and deceit.
"You (Rotimi Akeredolu) attempted to make sure that the whole world sees the members as your cowardly, ineffectual and mindless errand boys.
"Mr. Governor, you were way out of line. You were completely out of order. You carried your authority too far and abused what should be the member's natural inclination to respect you as a leader. You abused your authority.
“Perhaps, you do not realize it: You and these 26 members are the only ones who truly carry the mandate of the people. The people, it was, who trooped out to elect them as they did you too.
"To speak to them so condescendingly and so demeaningly portrays you as a dictatorial, Hitlerish individual who imagines himself only next to God in importance,” she said.
According to Mrs. Akindele, the legislature which is the third tiers of government deserved respect and honour from the governor.
She explained that although the existence of some of the lawmakers in the assembly was questionable due to their undemocratic approach to issues but they still enjoy their mandates and should be treated fairly.
“Granted that the manner of the emergence of some of those who are there now may have been undemocratic and that you may have had to pay good money to buy votes for most of them, the truth is that ultimately the people voted for them all too in much the same way that they voted for you.
“Your Excellency, you poured expletives on them, asking them questions like a mean headmaster telling off an errant pupil. They came out looking that little."
While noting that the action of Akeredolu has done incalculable damage to the integrity of the house, Mrs. Akindele said the governor should display the spirit of statesmanship and promotes synergy between the executive arm of government and the legislature in the state.
"Truth be told, the relationship between governors and members of the house is usually that of a big brother to his junior ones as governors being the leaders of their parties would have been instrumental in the victory of most of the members at the polls.
“However, statesmanship demands that the governor does not conduct himself in such a way to bring the institution into such disrepute with the public like you did.
“I am an advocate of the need to always have a synergy between the Executive and the Legislature. My belief is that when you have unnecessary strife or contentions between the two, only the people will suffer. Our people do not deserve that.
“You showed your contempt and utter disdain for the leadership and members of the House when you charged in there like a bull telling the whole world that they lied and were only trying to blackmail your government.
“Granted that there were no reptilian contingencies as widely reported particularly in the manner in which it was alleged, truth be told, that structure needs more than repairs,” she added.
She added that the structure had been in existence since the era of the first civilian governor of the state, Michael Adekunle Ajasin, and had not been given renovated.
According to her, the past administration of governors Olusegun Agaga and Olusegun Mimiko should be criticized and blamed for the rot.
The former speaker, however, asked the governor to overhaul the Ondo State House of Assembly complex by pulling down the rotten structure and give it a comprehensive facelift.
She noted, "However, you must realize that you also have a duty to look towards that establishment and ensure that a befitting edifice is built for it.
"It may not bring you the immediate political and possibly financial dividends that road construction would but, if you do this, your name will forever be cast in gold and future generations of members will speak of you as we speak of Baba Ajasin of blessed memory today.
“Having said this Your Excellency, I wish to appeal to you to always exercise restraint when you deal with these people particularly in public."