CONTRARY to the rumour being peddled by some members of the opposition parties in Oyo state that the erstwhile Special Assistant to the Oyo State Governor on Broadcast, Mr. Babatunde Olaniyi popularly known as ‘Ti O Common” has resigned from Ajimobi led government due to what some sections of the opposition termed as ‘disastrous performance’ of the governor since he won the second term election, Mr. Olaniyi in his reaction to the rumour has, however, debunked it describing it as an obnoxious barb targeted at spiting the governor’s efforts geared towards making Oyo state a force to be reckoned with in Nigeria.
Mr. Olaniyi expressed his displeasure to the rumour which recently went viral on internet, lampoon those behind it saying that people should never take their words seriously as according to him they thrive mostly on rumour and always looking for a way to score cheap publicity, adding that there was no rancour whatsoever between him and his boss, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
Speaking further on the purported resignation, Mr. Olaniyi stated that the governor initially refused his resignation letter which was dated November 7th, 2016 and received by the governor on the same day added that the governor asked him to reconsider his stand but the governor had to let him go officially on January after begging the governor several times that relieving of his official duty will allow him to take care of his string of businesses.
According to the letter which was signed personally by him and which was made available to our reporter, “all my life I have always craved to be independent, hoping to try my hands out on risky entrepreneurship. In my current effort, laying my hands on the transportation business excites me. I sincerely want to see what the result of this efforts will be.
He continued, “there is no doubt that this will be difficult, tasking and challenging. When there is a will, Your Excellency, I believe there is a way. My regret is that if I try to do both- the entrepreneurship and working with your Excellency- (sic) there will be a serious clash which will seriously affect my desire to give you the quality support I have always given your government. This is why I seek your go ahead to bail out (sic) of this government for now sir.
“May I, however, add that my bailing out would not be totally opting out of duties that have to do with my mentor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi. I still crave to give personal contributions to your success through any assignment you may want to give me in my private capacity. I will gladly accept to do any assignment that Your Excellency apportions to me”, he concluded.
Lamenting at the rate some people are abusing the opportunities presented by internet, Mr Olaniyi expressed disapointment over what he described as ‘alarming and unhealthy for our fledging democracy’ saying that none of those who were writing gibberish on the internet deem it fit to ask him what transpired but instead went ahead and published a story embellished with malice and falsehood and with the opposition parties having lost out politically they saw his resignation as an opportunity to fester what they know how to do best- propaganda.
Mr. Olaniyi then revealed that though his resignation has been approved by the governor he still send people to him to do certain jobs for his administration reaffirming that the relationship between him and the governor which he said dated back to his pre-senatorial career has transcended the official matters to a father-son relationship.
