ONDO STATE’S FIRST LADY OR FIRST PROBLEM?

by Dr. Akeredolu O.N, Leader, Aketi Medical Team, 2016, Vice Chairman, Aketi-Aiyedatiwa Medical Committee, 2020.

Indeed, Mrs. Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu has turned herself into the problem of Ondo State, and has crippled the hope of Chief Olusola Oke SAN, and Mr. Eyitayo Jegede SAN of ever governing the state. It’s now a curse for any aspiring politician to marry an Igbo woman in Ondo State, courtesy of Aketi’s wife.

The question is, what is Mama Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu doing in the Sunshine State when her husband, who brought her here and made her the strongest First Lady in history, is currently in critical condition at an undisclosed hospital? Is she not supposed to be beside him now? What manner of woman is Ondo State’s First Lady?

Political peace recently returned to Ondo State following topsy-turvy in which the media world was saturated with ugly incidents revolving around the power play on who takes over after Aketi on the 24th of Feb, 2025. It’s no longer news that the governor of Ondo State is terminally ill. The current political upheaval started when Aketi’s wife, Mrs. Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu, came up with her popular term, ‘Peradventure.’ Despite the state having a larger population of elites compared to her counterparts in the federation, this word became renowned by her pronunciation in the viral audio note of the First Lady.

What happened was that Mama Betty accused one of the closest female aides of her husband, Mrs Bunmi Ademosu, of sneaking in herbs and other fetish materials for Mr Governor due to his undisclosed ailment. In her usual hot temper, this Igbo woman concluded that peradventure anything happens to Aketi, the deputy governor, H.E. Lucky Aiyedatiwa takes over, citing the constitution. She also scolded Mrs Ademosu for politicking to be the next deputy governor after Aketi’s demise. This became an issue in the state, and almost culminated into an ethnic clash between the Akure people of Mrs. Ademosu who have been accommodating to Igbo people in Ondo State. In fact, the youth wing of Akure Progressive Association, through her president, warned the Ondo State First Lady of the consequences of her unguarded utterances against their acclaimed illustrious daughter, and everything finally went down with time.

Following the tenure expiration of the last local government chairmen, an Igbo woman, Ms Nwamara, a former Odigbo L.G.A. supervisory Councillor appointed by this Aketi’s wife, was nominated by Mama Betty as the next caretaker of this third tier of governance in these areas. This generated a lot of protests from the youths, who warned the state government of the repercussions, based on their culture that limits their King’s official relationship with strangers. Having an Igbo woman as their local government boss will put this culture in jeopardy. Irrespective of the hue and cry, Mrs Akeredolu insisted that Ms Nwamara should emerge as the vice-chairman of the recently barred LG caretakers.

In the same way, when her husband, Aketi, had been facing his current health challenge that was rumoured by Sahara reporters to be a terminal illness, a trying period for the number one citizen of Ondo State, the attitudes of our First Lady have been so bad towards Mr. governor. She had been denying her husband of over four decades the necessary obvious empathy. It seems that her concern is more of the power with the paraphernalia of the governor’s office than the life of her darling husband of whom she became the most powerful First Lady in history of Sunshine state. The entire state was involved in a prayer competition, both fake and genuine, to God for her husband’s health. It was around this period she planned her 70th birthday in an elaborate manner which generated a lot of tongue-wagging against her and Mr. Governor until the event was postponed indefinitely.

After Aketi returned from his medical leave, the shenanigans to remove the deputy governor started in which Mrs. Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu was alleged to be the author and finisher of this ungodly plan that almost brought the replay of 1983’s horrible experience back into the state until our elders, led by Pa Fashoranti, came on board and called the attention of Mr. President, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, to the entire scenario and finally laid it to rest by making the deputy governor, H.E. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, an acting governor as stated by our constitution. The Mr. governor has gone on official leave again, but the recent actions by Aketi’s wife called for caution, mostly her recent outbursts in which she was complaining about the disbursement of 25 million naira sent to the aged people by the First Lady of Nigeria, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu. The Ada of Oweri complained that she should be the one in charge of the money like other states.

The lackluster attitudes of Mrs Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu in the state have made it hard for governorship aspirants like Chief Olusola Oke SAN and Mr Eyitayo Jegede SAN, who are married to Igbo and Calabar women, respectively. It has become a herculean task for them to achieve their dreams of ruling the affairs of the state. To add insult to injury, instead of showing concern about the pathetic health condition of her husband, Mama Betty decided to invite the House of Assembly members for a meeting, geared towards making the state ungovernable for the acting governor. The question is this, what is Mama Ada doing in Ondo State while her husband, who brought her here, is currently in a critical condition at an undisclosed hospital? Does that mean she is more concerned about the power than her husband who is terminally ill? It’s in history that she is the first Igbo First Lady that Ondo State ever had since 1999, and the unduly political interference from her is unprecedented and unbearable. It’s now a curse for political office aspirants to be married to Igbos in Ondo State, courtesy of Mrs. Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu, though we have good Igbo women who are reasonable and Godly.