Image
June 1, 2023
It was also learnt that to prevent pictures of the governor’s emaciated looks from getting out, the family asked security agents and a few politicians around him to put off their mobile phones.
The Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, is set to be flown out of Nigeria on Saturday following his deteriorating health condition.
This comes after SaharaReporters reported earlier on Thursday that the governor had become bedridden and was in his residence in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Sources told SaharaReporters that he was unable to sign official documents due to his deteriorating health condition.
However, SaharaReporters further learnt on Thursday that following its earlier report, Akeredolu’s family was set to fly him out of the country this weekend as his health had become critical.
It was also learnt that to prevent pictures of the governor’s emaciated looks from getting out, the family asked security agents and a few politicians around him to put off their mobile phones.
“Governor Akeredolu will be flown out of the country on Saturday for medical treatment after the SaharaReporters’ report. He is in a very critical condition. He was put in the wheelchair of his late mother and he seemed unconscious.
“All security agents and a few top politicians around were asked to put off their phones,” a source told SaharaReporters.
“His condition is very critical now, which is why he is being flown abroad. He is currently in Ibadan because that is where the family prefers to have him when his condition is critical because of the prying eyes and civil servants in Ondo.”
SaharaReporters earlier reported that Akeredolu had been abandoned by his wife and children, which prompted their swift action to fly him abroad.
Meanwhile, the governor has refused to hand over to his deputy despite his incapacitation.
Akeredolu is a second-term governor under the All Progressives Congress and his tenure will come to an end in 2025.
“Governor Akeredolu is incapacitated and bedridden in his Ibadan home. His hands and legs are immovable. His wife and kids also abandoned him,” a source earlier told SaharaReporters.
“He is unable to sign documents but he could still speak. Meanwhile, he has refused to hand over the affairs of government to his deputy,” the source had added.
Background
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported in January that Akeredolu was treating an ailment said to be blood cancer (leukemia).
“The governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu has leukemia, he is really down,” one of the sources in the Alagbaka Government House had revealed at that time.
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood caused by a rise in the number of white blood cells in the body.
For sufferers, the white blood cells crowd out the red blood cells and platelets needed by the body to stay healthy.
White blood cells are potent infection fighters which grow and divide in an orderly way, as the body needs them. But in people with leukemia, the bone marrow produces an excessive amount of abnormal white blood cells, which don't function properly.
It is a cancer of blood-forming tissues that hinders the body’s ability to fight infections.
The types that exist include acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Treatment for leukemia can be complex depending on the type of leukemia and other factors.
But some strategies and resources can help make treatment successful.
According to WebMD Cancer Center, its symptoms may include weakness or fatigue, bruising or bleeding easily, fever or chills, infections that are severe or keep coming back, and pain in your bones or joints.
Others may include headaches, vomiting, seizures, weight loss, night sweats, shortness of breath, and swollen lymph nodes or organs like the spleen.
Betty, the wife of the governor recently cried out that her husband was sick after taking a “concoction” from one of his female aides, Bunmi Ademosun.
In a leaked audio file, the First Lady accused Ademosun, the special adviser to the governor on Multilateral and Inter-Governmental Affairs, of sneaking to give Akeredolu a local herbal drink.
“This is Arabinrin, I have a message for Ademosun and I believe that she’s on this Aketi’s women platform. I want this woman to stay away from my husband, stop sneaking in concoction.
“According to her, they are from her fake pastors to give my husband to drink. We rely on medical care. We rely on Western style of medical care and Aketi will get well.
“What has triggered this very message is her recent meetings to become the deputy governor of Ondo state. Look at you, what have you got upstairs to become the deputy governor of Ondo state? Peradventure anything happens to Aketi, Lucky takes over, it’s a constitutional thing. But for you to be scheming, for you to be scheming. I warned Aketi from the beginning that this woman is evil, this woman is no good and it’s happening. She has nothing good for you and I warned you. This woman is bloody evil. But I’m warning her for the very last time to stay away from my husband.
“And look, if you are dealing with an Igbo woman in this kind of situation, I’ll deal with you mercilessly that you won’t forget in your life. For the very last time Ademosun, stay away from Aketi, you won’t find it funny with me. You are a very terrible woman, go away and enjoy your look,” the governor’s wife is heard saying in an audio file.
However, the governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunde said his health issue was not an unusual one.
Akeredolu insisted that he was discharging his official functions.
In April 2022, SaharaReporters exclusively reported that the Ondo state governor was hospitalised in Germany after falling ill.
In 2019, he was also out of the state for five weeks while seeking medical attention in Germany and Abuja, Nigeria.
“Yes, I needed to seek medical attention. It was nothing so serious as overblown because it is routine. But on my return, I needed to take some time off based on advice. It wasn’t as serious as people blew it,” he said after arriving in Nigeria from Germany.
“But basically, my stay back in Abuja was indeed not a serious period to even rest because I had to attend to a lot of issues that will move the state forward.
“I received in audience a world-class medical foundation, Medicus International, from Germany as I presided over the signing of the MoU for them to build a world-class medical city in Akure.
“You are aware that I attended the governors’ forum meeting as well as the National Economic Council meeting and several others. Of particular note was the meeting I held with the World Bank that will bring in a capital of about $19 million for the development of the state. As you can see, I’m back fresher and stronger to continue the work the good people of the state mandated me to do.”
The governor’s confirmation of his illness contradicts the position of Donald Ojogo, the then-information commissioner, who had earlier said Akeredolu did not seek medical attention.
In April 2022, he described reports that Akeredolu was ill as wicked and misleading.