PDP Slams Akeredolu Over Daughter's Destination Wedding In Mauritius

The wedding ceremony of Teniola, daughter of Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, which was held in Mauritius over the weekend has been described as wastage of the state’s scarce resources.

The wedding, which has continued to generate reactions from various quarters across the state, was said to have been attended by most of the cabinet members in the state with the trip allegedly bankrolled from the government’s purse.

The wedding ceremony which is now the talk of the town in the state was attended by political office holders, as well as the legislative arm led by the Speaker Rt. Hon. Bamidele Oloyeloogun.

According to the PDP, the Akeredolu-led APC government is insensitive to the plight of the citizenry as regards the present harsh economy currently being witnessed.

The Director of Media and Publicity of PDP in Ondo State, Zadok Akintoye in a statement claimed that public funds were expended on the trips of all participants, adding that the fund ought to have been channeled into the infrastructural deficit of the state.

The statement reads in part “The recent outcry of citizens of this state against the vexatious display of insensitivity by the Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu SAN, remains another testament of the lack of empathy by the APC-led government towards the difficult challenges currently being faced by citizens.

“Considering very carefully the deplorable condition of public infrastructure in the state, the high number of students in public universities who have been forced to either suspend or fully abandon their academic pursuits, the inability of this government to provide basic and affordable healthcare, one would have expected the governor to show some minimal level of empathy expected of a public servant superintending over a government that has increased taxes and levies paid by citizens and forced many to seek survival through pain.

“It is on record that this APC-led government remains the most anti-people government in the history of Ondo state and one that has glorified crony capitalism, nepotism, tribalism and wanton disregard for the welfare of the people.

“Within the last two years, the governor has celebrated weddings of his children across the world from Canada to the United States and now Mauritius at the expense of citizens of this state without any sense of respect to the people he leads. How else can one explain the present display of affluence and disdain for the people?

“We, therefore, ask this government to face the serious issues of providing good governance rather than turning the administration of public wealth and resources into an opportunity for grandiose parties and jamboree.

“it is on record that members of the Cabinet, the Speaker and Members of the state House of Assembly, Aides, and Assistants of this Governor, numbering almost 100 attended the wedding in Mauritius.

Debunking the allegations, the state government through the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, however, regarded the claims of the PDP as needless and baseless saying “First, the baleful narratives deliberately churned out to the public were not in unexpected. This is more so that the quality of those who attended the event has the capacity to draw such carousal inspirations that state funds were spent on the travel and other expenditures of those who were at the ceremony.

“It is perhaps, pertinent to state that the erroneous impression being created by those behind the unsavoury perspectives that the entire members of the State Executive Council attended the event is not just puerile but pernicious. For the records, not more than five of the 30-member Cabinet graced the event at their personal expense.”

Meanwhile, Governor Akeredolu had few months ago held traditional wedding and church service versions of the wedding in Owo.

Similarly, there were outcries in the state last year when the wedding of the Governor’s son, Babajide was held in Colorado, USA, after the traditional version of the wedding was held in Lagos.