Don’t attend to frivolities in office – Akeredolu tells Tinubu

The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has urged the President, Bola Tinubu, to shy away from attending to frivolities as he gets ready for the work ahead.

Akeredolu, in a statement on Monday, said attending to frivolities might distract Tinubu’s administration, adding that now was not the time to be gloating about the electoral victories recorded during the general elections.

He noted that we must admonish ourselves on the need to remain focused on the socio-economic programmes for the emancipation of the people.

Akeredolu said, “It is definitely not a season for recriminations. The rhetoric, which conveys the divisive nuance of ‘we against them’ ought to have ceased with the declaration of the winners by the electoral body, INEC. This is the moment when all the new leaders must cast aside all tendencies which promote and deepen cleavages of different hues. All hands must be deployed on deck.

“The task ahead is so enormous than to warrant attending to frivolities capable of distracting the new administration. There must be conscious attempts to bring on board only those with proven capacity with regard to expertise. The President must ensure that all those who are bent on setting Nigerians on one another are neutralised.

“The new administration has its jobs well defined, the very first being the urgent need to assist in birthing a new constitutional order which takes into account, keenly, the principles of federalism. The success recorded at fixing the basic defects in the 1999 Constitution, as Amended, will determine, largely, the pattern and the depth of the deliberative governance designed to achieve development.”

He explained that all existential issues would be addressed realistically, adding that the new government must be encouraged to tread this honourable path.

Akeredolu added, “The new thinking should anticipate active participation by the constituent units of the federation as coordinate partners in revenue generation and the security of lives and property of the citizenry.

“I have no doubt that Mr President is ready to deliver on this mandate of rectitude. His record of service in Lagos State leaves no room for any doubt concerning his capacity to turn things around positively.

“The Federal Government should expect robust engagements from the government and people of Ondo State who expressed confidence in the new leadership through the overwhelming support given the President at the last presidential election.”