…alleges she’s been working for PDP candidate, Agboola Ajayi
By Samuel Alonge
The Ipele Progressives Union (IPU), Owo axis in the Ondo State Northern Senatorial District, on Monday, urged the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to expel a House of Assembly member representing Owo Constituency 2, Mrs. Atinuke Witherspoon, from the party over alleged anti-party activities.
Rising from an emergency meeting held in Ipele on Monday, the IPU in a communique described Witherspoon, the female lawmaker, as “a green snake under the green grass”, alleging that she had been working secretly for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Mr. Agboola Ajayi, while pretending to be loyal to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the APC.
In the communique signed by its Chairman, Hon. Japhet Akinroboye, and Secretary, Chief (Mrs) Iyabode Akinsola, the group noted that “having been playing Judas for so long, there is now no hiding place for Witherspoon, as activities toward the November 16 governorship election have clearly exposed her hanky-panky games with the APC.
“We have been watching with utter dismay, the play of Judas that Renike Witherspoon, the House of Assembly member representing Owo Constituency in Owo LG , who is from Ipele, has indulged herself in since Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa took over as Governor of Ondo State, December last year.
“Markedly, pictorial and several forms of evidence have given screaming validity to the fact that Witherspoon is more of the proverbial bat that is partly bird and partly rat.
“While she is an APC member in Akure, the state’s capital, she is a strong PDP leader in her Ipele country home, where she devises various methods to destabilise the APC in Ipele and other communities of Owo ancestry,” the IPU leaders lamented.
Witherspoon
They recalled that Witherspoon recently sent shock waves through the Ipele community by refusing to attend the coronation ceremony and thanksgiving service for the newly installed Ipele monarch, the Olupele, Oba Samuel Daramola, on the ground that the youths of Ipele declared that the royal father is for Governor Aiyedatiwa.
“We have various forms of evidence, including pictures and videos, to prove that PDP stalwarts have been holding secret meetings, especially at ungodly hours, in both the Akure and Ipele homes of Witherspoon, using her as a mole in the APC and her supporters in Ipele and other Owo communities.
“That is why the IPU, in concert with the youths of Ipele, are urging the party to hand Witherspoon indefinite suspension, to save the party from fetching its water into a leaking pan.
“Already at the Ipele Local Council Development Area (LCDA) secretariat, Witherspoon has been holding clandestine meetings with the PDP chieftains, strategising for Agboola Ajayi.
“No wonder, our noble daughter from Owo, Mrs. Omowumi Isaac, the Honourable Commissioner for Finance, has all the while distanced herself from Witherspoon, as she wouldn’t want anyone to soil her hard-earned reputation,” the group remarked.
It added that on its part, it had rallied voters in the area to start appending signatures to recall Witherspoon from the State’s House of Assembly, “to serve as deterrent to future Judases.
“Witherspoon to our shock, is now flocking with characters such as Olorunfuni Dotun, aka Baba Ipele, Hon. Gere a former chairman of Owo Local Government, and Azeez Bello, who are staunch supporters of Agboola Ajayi.
“We have had representatives in the state House of Assembly in the past, such as Hon Mukaila Musa, and Dr. Adeyemi Olayemi, aka Koko; they have performed very well and gave a good representation to Owo Constituency 2 and are still loyal to the progressives’ camp; they have never played Judas in their lives,” the IPU said.