The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Multimedia, Taiwo Gbamila, has accused the Ondo State Commissioner for Infrastructure, Abiola Olawoye, and the Commissioner for Finance, Wunmi Isaac, of undermining efforts by the governor’s media team to effectively publicise his achievements.
Gbamila made the allegation while responding to remarks credited to Olawoye, who reportedly criticised the governor’s media aides during an APC stakeholders’ meeting held on Friday in Akure, the state capital.
At the meeting, the infrastructure commissioner allegedly accused the media team of failing in their duty to showcase projects being executed by his ministry.
In a viral video, Gbamila claimed that Olawoye has remained largely inaccessible since assuming office, thereby frustrating the media team’s work.
He said, “We do not understand the issue Olawoye has with the governor’s media aides that makes him continually run them down. Even when we were all working to ensure that Aiyedatiwa emerged as governor, you were nowhere to be found.
“When you were appointed commissioner, nobody protested; we welcomed and celebrated you. But in all honesty, Olawoye has been the one preventing us from properly showcasing the ongoing projects of Mr Governor to the people.
“When I was appointed chairman of a committee by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Ebenezer Adeniyan, to identify and publicise the governor’s projects, Olawoye repeatedly blocked our access to project sites.
“There is no way to project the achievements and progress of Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa without the involvement of your ministry. We called you several times, but you neither answered nor responded to messages, including those sent by the CPS.
“You and the Commissioner for Finance have effectively declared war on the media aides. You are the ones running Aiyedatiwa’s government down. The Commissioner for Finance has refused to release running grants to the media unit for over nine months. We are suffering in silence, yet you turn around to blame us for problems you created.
“The CPS has constantly restrained us from speaking out, assuring us that the issues would be resolved amicably. He often uses his personal influence to source funds elsewhere to ensure the job gets done, as the Commissioner for Finance has withheld grants to his office over minor issues.”
