•Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State
Following the denial that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa authorised the petition against a lawyer, Barrister Wale Omolegbon Odusola, on alleged cyberbullying of the governor, the state Commissioner of Police, Wilfred Afolabi has been called upon to investigate the author of the petition.
Activist and human rights lawyer, Tope Temokun Esq made the call today while reacting to a statement by Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, denying the governor authorising anyone to petition the lawyer who was arrested and arraigned in a Magistrate’s Court today for cyberbullying, reports Daily Independent.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Akure, Ondo State capital, Temokun Esq insisted that such faceless persons should be investigated to prevent recurrence of such aberration and crime.
The statement reads: “Now, after the governor’s official disownment of this formal complaint and the official directive for termination of the criminal proceedings, for the sake of record, future reference and history, we as citizens and stakeholders in Ondo State need to get some things clear.
“Who woke up on the wrong side of his bed and just went to the highest office of the police command to present an unauthorised petition, using the name of our governor and invoking the statutory investigative and prosecutorial powers of the police, which almost and nearly saw a lawyer remanded, but for the judicial and judicious exercise of discretion of the presiding magistrate who reckoned with the fierce legal representation, acceded to a noble request, and granted bail to Barrister Wale Omolegbon Odusola?
“Now that the governor has disowned that petition, it is important we interrogate the process leading to this drama and make sure we in Ondo State are safe in the hands of overzealous “unauthorized people” wandering at the corridors of the power and pretending to love the governor more than himself. If we do not ask and answer this question today, we are all potential victims of unauthorized use of government power tomorrow.
“There is a big danger ahead. It means there are some small, small intolerant power-drunk political urchins around that corridor of power that present as petty dictators who can endanger our liberty as critical citizens and how many times are we going to wait for governor’s disownment before being assured we have not lost it.
“The government must come out publicly and strongly to take a stand on this unauthorised and unguarded use of power.
“We must believe the governor that he did not authorise that petition, if we do not, then who do we believe?
“Then whosoever might have used the governor’s name to rouse the entire state into a state of frenzy on the 18th of February 2025 should not only be removed from around the governor, but must also be made to publicly apologize, for that prank, if we now call it one, is too expensive to be pulled on us all.
“After the release of Barrister Wale Omolegbon Odusola, who was arraigned before the Magistrate Court, Oke-Eda, Akure, yesterday, the 18th of February 2025, for posting a video on his Facebook page, criticizing the governor on his project allocation, two official releases from the government of Ondo State were made to save the situation.
“The first one came from the desk of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Ondo State, Dr. Olukayode Ajulo, SAN, disclosing that under the directive of the Governor of Ondo State, Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, the Office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice has formally taken over the case of Commissioner of Police vs. Wale Omolegbon Odusola currently before the Chief Magistrates’ Court of Ondo State, Akure Magisterial District.
“The Attorney General announced that the State Government’s decision to assume control of the prosecution aligns with its constitutional responsibility to uphold the rule of law while safeguarding citizens’ fundamental rights.
“He maintained that the Ondo State Government is fully committed to protecting free speech and ensuring that the rights of every citizen are respected, but that deliberate falsehoods or defamatory statements that undermine the integrity of public office would be addressed through due legal process. What a very fine one.
“In another release from the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Ondo State, the release claimed the attention of the Governor of Ondo State was drawn to the petition which attempts to bring Barrister Wale Omolegbon’s Facebook criticism to serious scrutiny and prosecution for cyberbullying by the police authority, but that Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa has no hand in it.
“It went further to state that the governor did not commission anyone to petition the police against any citizen who criticises him or his administration and that Mr. Governor has, therefore, asked the office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice to take over the case instituted against Barrister Omolegbon and work towards dropping the charges.
“The only honorable path seems to have been taken, which is the governor’s directive for the immediate withdrawal of the charges, before it gets messier (it is already messy).
“The process will not merely end with the withdrawal of the charges, the integrity of the government, that of the governor and that of the police are already thrown up for scrutiny and compromise. Power should not be left carelessly in the government house without a control measure.
“Somebody must be in charge and somebody must be answerable to somebody for any form of abuse.
“In the same way, deployment of police powers should not be toyed with because liberty of men could be put in abeyance when police powers are carelessly deployed.
“A process of an unauthorised author of a petition, who claimed to act on behalf of the governor which has dragged the name of the governor into the court of public opinion now and which has set the legal machinery in motion, before the governor’s disownment, presents a potential danger to us all and the governor himself.
“This incident is capable too of portraying the police as an unserious institution that can just accede to the request of any busy body at the mentioning of names of the governor. This process almost nearly made a citizen and lawyer lose his liberty.
“The author and the source of his authority should be investigated and the public is interested in knowing the truth. There is a case of abuse of power here and it taints the integrity of the State government in no small way. This abuse must be investigated.
“We need to know the truth! Who authored the petition? And who authorised the author of the petition?”
