By Akindele Orimolade

Two prominent sons of Ondo State are dissecting unfolding events in the Sunshine State from sharply contrasting angles ; each insisting he stands firmly on facts and truth, not sentiment.
Dr. Kayode Ajulo, the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, is widely regarded as one of Ondo’s rising political and legal stars. On the other side is Dr. Festus Adedayo, one of the state’s brightest media exports, whose reputation for incisive commentary earned him an appointment as Special Adviser to a governor outside his geopolitical zone.
On Sunday, February 22, 2026, in his weekly column in the Nigerian Tribune, Nigeria’s oldest surviving newspaper, Adedayo delivered a hard-hitting assessment of developments in his home state. He concluded that “the Aiyedatiwa years are appearing as the years of the locusts,” urging citizens to be vigilant.
According to him, “The onus is on the people to guard their loins. Anybody angling to lead the state must be known to have resounding pedigree of commitment. No longer should vultures with talons soaked in blood and greed be ever allowed to mount the saddle of the Alagbaka Government House.”
The column quickly drew a sharp response from the state’s chief law officer. Ajulo, while acknowledging he harbours “tremendous respect” for Adedayo as a writer, dismissed the piece as straying far from journalism. He described it instead as “intellectual terrorism,” “cyberbullying,” and “a deliberate cocktail of malicious lies” laden with “precarious liabilities.”
Though both men insist they are motivated by truth and public interest, their interpretations of the issues diverge significantly , with the Attorney General signaling the possibility of seeking a legal interpretation of the controversial article.
As the debate unfolds, it underscores a deeper conversation about governance, accountability, and free expression in Ondo State ; and whether the battle for the Sunshine State’s narrative will be settled in the court of public opinion or a court of law.

Below are the two articles:

Aiyedatiwa’s years of the locusts

Festus Adedayo

(Published by the Sunday Tribune, February 22, 2026)

Until last week’s bloody clash, governance in the Sunshine State of Ondo was the proverbial upholstery (timutimu) which shielded a generation of filth (egbin) from the glimpse of the world. The ward congress of the State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, which left two people dead and several others injured, brought out all the hidden muck. The bloodbath was attributed by many stakeholders to the State governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s now well-known inordinate ambition to stay-put, in the lingo of Pidgin English speakers, for a third term.

Daring ones among the people of the state even claim that the disruption of a stakeholders meeting presided over by the state chairman, Ade Adetimehin, by political thugs said to be emissaries of the governor were part of his ploy to reincarnate the narration of General Sani Abacha’s self-perpetuation in office. Raphael, Adetimehin’s brother, was brutally attacked by the suspected political thugs at his ward in Idanre. He was said to have been shot and stabbed, in an operation in which the party chairman was thought to have been the one brutalized. Adetimehin senior, who is not in Aiyedatiwa’s good books, was said to be the target.

Since Aiyedatiwa came into the saddle two years ago, having replaced late Rotimi Akeredolu, his boss, it has been sorrowful tale of retarded and arrested development for Ondo State. Recently, inhabitants of the state covered their faces in shame as government rolled out “celebration” of what it said were its achievements in office. An ear-marked commissioning of road projects that Akeredolu had almost completed and ones that even a local government would be less proud to hoist for mention was all Aiyedatiwa could boast of in two years. They were Igoba, SIB Extension, Afunbiowo Housing Estate, Ayegunle Iwaro-Oka, and a couple of other roads. State-wide condemnation stampeded government into suddenly putting the commissioning under wraps. For an oil-producing state, Aiyedatiwa is disgracing Ondo State tremendously due to his gross incompetence and incapability.

Those who accused previous governments in the state of failure to jump-start the state for it to compete with other states of the Southwest see Aiyedatiwa’s fare as governor as intolerable and the limit. Of all of past governors of the state, Olusegun Agagu and Olusegun Mimiko are hoisted for their remarkable developmental strides. The situation now is such that, apart from tokenism, Ondo State is so backward developmentally, so much that it cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with any state in the west.

But, is the fault in the people’s star? Why are Ondo people always this unlucky? Yes, Aiyedatiwa is an accidental leader. It is why every people must ensure that spare tyres are not put forward as deputy governorship candidates. As proven now, situations could change and what was thought to be spare becomes the original. Ondo State’s experience in this regard has been distressing. There is absolutely no new development that can be pointed to since the incumbent came into power, despite the billions of Naira accruals from IGR and federal allocations. The rumour in town is that the state’s wealth is tethered in the pockets of SANs who are helping to process in court Aiyedatiwa’s puerile arguments to reincarnate as Sani Abacha.

Indeed, the Aiyedatiwa years are appearing as the years of the locusts. The onus is on the people to guard their loins. Anybody angling to lead the state must be known to have resounding pedigree of commitment. No longer should vultures with talons soaked in blood and greed be ever allowed to mount the saddle of the Alagbaka Government House. As a writer-wayfarer friend of mine often says as signature tune of his Facebook narratives: This, too, is my 10 Kobo advice.

#

Ondo AG Fires Back with Measured Fury: Labels Festus Adedayo’s Piece “Intellectual Terrorism” and “Cyberbullying” Laden with “Malicious Lies”

Akure, Ondo State – February 23, 2026

In a rare and forceful public intervention, Dr Olukayode Ajulo, OON, SAN, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Ondo State, has issued a blistering, intellectually rigorous rebuttal to veteran columnist Festus Adedayo’s opinion article “Aiyedatiwa’s Years of the Locusts,” published February 22, 2026.

The Attorney-General, who has long maintained a posture of restraint befitting his high office, explained that he had previously been constrained by the dignity and impartiality required of his position not to engage in public banter or respond to partisan commentary. However, he stated unequivocally that what he read from Adedayo—whom he described as a writer for whom he harbours “tremendous respect”—was not journalism as he knows it, but rather “intellectual terrorism” “cyberbullying” and “a deliberate cocktail of malicious lies” that carries “precarious liabilities.”

Ajulo declared that the piece had crossed into territory that could no longer be ignored; “When a decorated and senior writer descends into calling a democratically elected leader a ‘vulture with talons soaked in blood and greed,’ fabricates a ‘third-term ambition’ likened to Sani Abacha, and peddles the outrageous falsehood of ‘retarded and arrested development’ despite verifiable, monumental achievements, the line has been crossed from opinion into actionable libel per se. This should not be dignified with silence by every man of conscience.”

Presenting what he termed an “irrefutable dossier of facts and numbers,” the AG dismantled the central claims of the article with forensic precision:

• Infrastructure: Over 190 kilometres of quality roads commissioned and advanced across the three senatorial districts in the first year of the elected mandate (February 2025–February 2026). Key projects include the 6 km Aiyegunle–Iwaro Oka Road (long abandoned by previous administrations), which the Olubaka of Oka, Oba Yusuf Adebori Adeleye, publicly praised as one “previous administrations failed to accomplish,” stating that “Governor Aiyedatiwa has written his name in the hearts of our people.” Other named roads: 5.5 km Igoba Township Road, Alagbaka Extension, Gbangbalogun–Odole–Odiolowo, Lao–Oke Padre–Odopetu, Ecobank–Oke Arata, Ajegunle, Oja Oshodi, SK Bright Street, Ayeloro Street, and Owo clusters (Falodun, Kajola, Iselu–Isuada spanning 3.5 km).
• Healthcare: 112 primary healthcare centres renovated or newly constructed across all 18 LGAs and now operational; massive expansion of the Orange Health Insurance Scheme; commissioning of the 100,000-litre solar-powered Omi Irorun O’Datiwa Water Project at FUTA Teaching Hospital serving over 6,000 residents; recent commissioning of new centres in Adegbola (Akure) and Surulere (Ondo).
• Education: 280 classrooms constructed or renovated, plus perimeter fencing of numerous schools while over 2000 teachers have been employed.
• Economy: Revalidation of the Ondo Deep Sea Port licence and advancement of refinery and petrochemical projects with strategic partners.

On the tragic APC ward congress violence in Idanre (February 18–19, 2026), Ajulo reiterated that “Governor Aiyedatiwa immediately and publicly condemned it in the strongest terms, distanced his administration completely, directed security agencies to investigate and prosecute all perpetrators without fear or favour (13 suspects already arrested), and has cooperated fully with federal authorities, including a meeting with President Tinubu and various stakeholders; an act of transparent accountability, not orchestration”

He described any imputation of criminal acts by miscreants and political opportunists to the Governor as “only reckless but potentially seditious.”

Ajulo categorically rejected claims of a “third-term ambition,” affirming the Governor’s focus solely on the four-year “OUR EASE” mandate renewed in November 2024. He dismissed allegations of misuse of state funds for personal legal matters as “baseless rumour,” stating: “Under my watch as Attorney-General, not a kobo has been expended on legal matters where Governor Aiyedatiwa is sued privately or personally.”

Invoking Sections 373–381 of the Criminal Code Act and the common-law tort of libel, Ajulo warned that the false imputations of criminality, corruption, and gross incompetence constitute libel per se and carry “precarious liabilities.” He placed Adedayo and any sponsors on formal notice of intent to pursue full legal redress.

In closing, the Attorney-General portrayed Governor Aiyedatiwa as “a tested, compassionate, divinely positioned servant-leader” who has delivered stability, empathy, and accelerated progress while honouring past legacies and adding bold new strides. “The resilient people of Ondo know the truth—they walk the roads, access the healthcare, and see the difference,” Ajulo concluded. “The sun of Ondo State shines brighter than ever. No amount of sponsored vitriol from merchants of falsehood can dim it.”

The statement, personally signed by the AG, on February 23, 2026, has sparked intense discussion across political and media circles in Ondo State and beyond.