President Bola Tinubu would meet with key political actors on Friday over the feud between Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Peoples Gazette has learnt. 

Mr Tinubu summoned the meeting following the continued absence of Mr Akeredolu and the governor’s refusal to hand over power to Mr Aiyedatiwa. 

Peoples Gazette gathered that the stakeholders included the state’s lawmakers and All Progressives Congress (APC) members.

In a phone interview with The Gazette, Alex Kalejaye, the spokesman for the Ondo APC, said he got a hint about the meeting with Mr Tinubu. 

“I was supposed to meet with the state chairman of the party today, but I have been told that he rushed out of the house. I’m sure it’s on this development,” Mr Kalejaiye said.

The spokesperson recalled that he released a statement on Thursday, assuring that party leadership at both state and national levels were addressing the faceoff.

“So, that statement was a saving grace for us as the presidency has decided to intervene in the matter. We were quite sure that if Mr Tinubu had been around all this while, it wouldn’t take this long,” he said. 

The planned meeting comes a few days after Reuben Fasoranti, leader of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, wrote Mr Tinubu to intervene in the current political impasse.

Meanwhile, the state assembly’s plenary session scheduled for Friday morning over the lingering crisis and the impeachment move could not be held due to the meeting with Mr Tinubu.

A source in the assembly told The Gazette that several lawmakers not attending the session had gone to Abuja to meet the president following their invitation. 

“They (lawmakers) had planned to meet today (Friday) and discuss. Part of their agenda, which I preview, is to declare Mr Aiyedatiwa as the acting governor. 

“Although, some of the lawmakers had threatened not to be at the session because they are not in support of Mr Aiyedatiwa becoming an acting governor, ” he said. 

When contacted by this medium, the spokesman for the house, Olatunji Oshati, denied knowledge of any planned meeting with Mr Tinubu in Abuja. 

“What I can only tell you is that the house is going to sit and review the political situation today as directed by our national, although I don’t want to preempt what the outcome of the meeting would be,” he said.

Several efforts to get comments from the presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, proved abortive.