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BETTY ANYANWU-AKEREDOLU: TIME TO TAME EXCESSES OF FIRST LADIES IN NIGERIA
Since Ebony Herald the most credible Magazine with as much credibility and influence as Newswatch published by Dele Giwa. has published the article below.
I am lifting it verbatim because it addresses all of my concerns about why “First Ladies” at local, state and federal levels in Nigeria have now become an albatross on the neck of Nigeria that the whole nation must address now and not tomorrow.
Why? Because if another First Lady in the mode of Betty Akeredolu is allowed to emerge at local, state or federal levels in Nigeria, I make a prediction that the Nigerian battle against Bribery & Corruption could only escalate and and never cut down to size. We all must remember that the title “First Lady” was not a creation of the Nigerian Constitution which we plagiarized from the American Constitution.
It was an imposition just like the position or role of traditional rulers was never defined in the 1999 Constitution as amended.
It came out of the figment of the imagination of our Military Establishment which simply imposed the Constitution on Nigerians without any Plebiscite ratification or consultation as I have always pointed out in all of my articles.
I have always had some misgivings about the possible break-up of Nigeria and I hesitate about giving my full support and endorsement to the determination of Oodua Republic or Yoruba Nation to break up from Nigeria. But now, I am hundred percent in support of the move.
The Yoruba Southwest and the Ndigbo Southeast IPOB and the Middle Belt and the South/ South and the Northeast Geopolitical Zones are going to continue to be held to ransom forever by the Hausa/Fulani unless and until we break the yoke and go our separate ways
Nigeria is now going to have 774 First Ladies like Betty Akeredolu in each of the 774 Local Governments of Nigeria as the wives of the Chairmen have all now embraced the title of “First Ladies
The 36 wives of the 36 State Governors plus the wife of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the Doyen and the Queen of them all, the wife of the President of Nigeria.
Where do we go from here is the one million Dollar question?
It is now time to add a clause to the questions we normally ask every candidate for Chairman of a Local Government, or for Governor of any State, or President of Nigeria, be it male or female.
We now have to ask them what kind of spouses do they have and we must do a deep background check on their spouses, be it male or female.
Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu has taught Nigerians a lesson we cannot forget in a hurry, if you read the article below.
I used to think that Rotimi Akeredolu was the real husband and a Lion in her marital home, but I now know that Rotimi Odunayo Akeredolu who I taught at the Great Aquinas College, Akure. was in fact a paper tiger and not a Lion at all to say the least.
As a great lawyer and as a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and as the Commander-in-Chief of the AmotekunI Security Brigade of Ondo State, I used to think he was a no- nonsense guy who would have put her terribly greedy and ambitious wife in check before it was too late.
I used to think that Governor Akeredolu was another General Mobutu of Zaire who once renamed himself as “Citoyen Citoyen Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Waza Banga” which means in his local dialect “ The big Cock that crows in the midst of Chickens”
We all thought that Governor Akeredolu was that big Cock in his life time. It is now clear to all and sundry that the title belonged to his wife- Betty who took over the title from him much to the peril of Ondo State people who were taken for a ride and reduced to penury by Betty who had pounced on the Security Vote her husband used to spend without any audit.
The Security Vote runs into Billions of Naira including foreign currency in Stirling and Dollar and Yen.
If Betty Akeredolu who now has her eyes fixated on running for Senator or even Governor of Imo state, who can stop her now that the estate of her filthy-rich husband is now at her beck and call and now that she and her husband were in the good books of “Emilokan” President of Nigeria Tinubu who had been counting on Akeredolu to win Ondo State for him and the APC when he runs for his second term 4 years from now.
With First Lady like Betty Akeredolu and others like her, I can tell you that Nigeria is in deep deep trouble.
I now urge you to read and digest the article below on Betty Akeredolu, and you too will clearly see what I see.
“HE WHO GOES TO EQUITY MUST GO WITH CLEAN HANDS.
Betty Akeredolu was busy collecting money from aspirants in Ondo State to pick them as party’s candidate but she frown at the same style in Imo state. If they have gone into primaries in Imo south senatorial district she would have won because the truth is that she diverted a lot of NDDC projects meant for Ondo State to her senatorial district, from roads to health sectors, and she has the most formidable team working for her as most of the political gladiators in Ondo State relocated to her village to support her not because they like her but because they knew she was the defacto Governor of Ondo State as you can not become anything without Betty’s approval. Our children was denied their school buses as she took them to her State as her campaign buses while our children trek to their schools. All major political players in Ondo State didn’t only relocated to Emiebiam her village they also went with their own fund to support her, some took banks and Lapo loans to support this woman aspiration.
The truth is that she had planned her senatorial ambition from day one that her husband assumed as Governor of Ondo State, if you guys can still remembered, my first outburst was the issue of the SUBEB contracts, yes that was the first windfall in Aketi’s government, those contracts were lying fallow in far away universal basic Education Agency Abuja where our own counterparts funding wasn’t fulfilled by Mimiko’s administration, Aketi came provided our own fund in his first three months in office and boom contracts for renovation of our schools across the state was released by UBE totalling 900 contracts in all and Betty collected 417 slots of the contracts and took them to party leaders in Imo state as gifts and the funny aspect was that they bring those contract papers to sell it to our own indigenous contractors who bidded for them initially, that was the first fight I had with her when I got hold of her greedy nature.
At first she was recruiting Igbos into the Ondo State civil service and when I raised alarm she changed her strategy by just including names of her people in the monthly payroll in the state as civil Servants and most of them didn’t know where Akure is located all they get is a monthly salary alert with this I was unable to track people she brought into the system but with staff payroll audit the state will discover the huge number of igbos on the payroll in the state soonest.
This woman ran a conventional 419 ring cartel syndicate which comprises mostly of her Igbo kinsmen except for one Tope Daniyan from Ekiti who has been their domestic staff long ago in Ibadan, these group of people (catchers) of her syndicate are to identify those rich people in Ondo State that either want to contest elections or seeking political appointments, they will approach you that Betty is the only person that decides who get what in the state, they will arrange for a meeting with her in the state Government house Akure and the milking starts, after dropping substantial amount they will compel you to participate in her programs of BRECAN, BEMORE and FOWOSO, their participation are in donations and sponsorships, Betty is the sole administrator of the accounts of these outfits.
Apart from swindling individuals in the state she controls juicy agencies in the state for sponsorships example is the OSOPADEC, annually OSOPADEC spent more than hundreds of millions to support BEMORE, FOWOSO and BRECAN programs, these are monies meant to develop Ilaje and Ese Odo communities.
It was a serious battle for the last six years as even my own Ondo State people tagged me a noise maker, let us give a befitting burial for Rotimi Akeredolu first and the whole world will witness one of the worse fraudulent family in history compared to that of the Abachas.
In the other front was Babajide their 35 years old son that did his NYSC in 2018 and was given one of the most intellectual state in Nigeria to manage as the Director General, she said it that the Governor can do anything with the state Assembly, indirectly referring to the state, and indeed back home in Ondo State she and her family did what they like with my sunshine state, may God forgive Rotimi Odunayo Akeredolu.
They will say we should not talk about the death when we realized he has not lived up to expectation, then my question is why then are we talking about Jesus Christ and Phophet Mohammed are they not dead?
Good morning”
Olujimi Adekanle JAF
Public Affairs Analysts
