The Ondo State Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, yesterday denied an allegation that he was involved in domestic violence against his wife, Oluwaseun. Aiyedatiwa, who is having a running political battle with some officials of the government of the state, over the plan to succeed his ailing boss, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu was accused by a women group of beating his wife. The group, Society for Women Empowerment (SWE), had berated Aiyedatiwa for allegedly beating his wife, Oluwaseun. The group in a statement by its National Coordinator, Mrs Damilola Charles, accused the deputy governor of repeatedly beating his wife, in the presence of his staff and friends. The group said wife beating is a civil rights problem of enormous magnitude, saying the campaign on violence against women must apply to elected officers in the country.
The statement reads: “We have taken our time to investigate and confirm the allegations of domestic violence be- tween the deputy governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and his wife, Oluwaseun Aiyedatiwa. “It is unacceptable that a deputy governor would physically assault his wife and inflict grievous bodily injuries on her. It is equally disturbing that the deputy governor would perpe- trate this crime against human- ity and womanhood and attempt to cover it up.”
However, the chief press secretary to the Deputy Governor, Mr. Kenneth Odusola, who said initially that he was not involved in any family matters of the deputy governor and that family matters should be left for family members blamed the enemies of the state for such al- legation. Odusola in a statement de- scribed the allegation as a base- less and false report coming from a faceless group who are bent on destroying the peaceful coexistence of the state. It said “This falsehood and its peddlers would have ordinarily been ignored at this time, but the need to halt further negative reports and rumour capable of creating needless tension in our state has necessitated this response.
“The said allegation of domestic abuse against the person of the Deputy Governor is a figment of the imagination of those behind it and their un- godly intentions to cause crisis in the state had been known for weeks and therefore such falsehood did not come as a surprise. “While His Excellency reserves the right to privacy on issues pertaining to his family, it is pertinent to state clearly that there has never been any domes- tic violence between the Deputy Governor and his lovely wife, Mrs. Oluwaseun Aiyedatiwa, who at the moment is outside the shores of the country.
“It is not a secret that Mrs. Oluwaseun Aiyedatiwa has lived and worked in the United Kingdom for many years before her husband became an elected public official in Nigeria and since then she has been shuttling between the United Kingdom and Nigeria to take care of the home and the children who are also in the United Kingdom.
“Therefore, any report of alleged domestic issues within the family should be taken as the handiwork of the enemies of the state who are bent on causing crisis where there is none and we therefore warn those spreading such falsehood to desist or face the consequences.”