After losing PDP primary, Ondo Senator retrieves gifted cars from party leaders

On Monday, May 23, 2022, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions finished second in the Ondo Central senatorial primary, trailing Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), who won with 82 votes.

Akinyelure received 58 votes, with Chief Clement Faboyede, the ex-Ondo State PDP Chairman, coming in third with 57 votes.

The legislator was believed to have sought his vehicles back from the leaders after being dissatisfied with the primary’s outcome despite the money and vehicles he allegedly used as mobilisation for the election.

Akinyelure, according to a party official, retrieved the vehicles he handed to Chief Segun Adegoke, a member of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, BOT, and Hon. Wole Akindiose, a former PDP Chairman in Ondo East and national delegate to the party’s upcoming convention.

In a statement signed by Special Assistant on Media & Strategy, Charles Akinwon on Thursday, May 26, 2022, Senator Akinyelure said, "he is highly disappointed in this outburst and false claim against him by Barrister Wole Akindiose".

He said, "As a learned person, do you really note the below facts about the Car you claimed to have been given to you as a gift by the Distinguished Senator?

"For avoidance of doubt and to put the record straight, the public is to take note of the following facts as regards the case in question;

"Hon Akindiose, you promise to deliver Ondo East for Sen Ayo Akinyelure (ALLOVER-1) in the just concluded PDP primary election on a conditional promise to buy you a car for the work you did in 2019 and the Senator told you that this is not practicable in the present circumstances because there are 5 other chairmen and all of you have been receiving N25,000 monthly allowance unhindered since his assumption of office over two and half years ago and you later complained that your car was faulty, and demanded that you need a car urgently to do the job of Ondo East and West to deliver substantial delegates for him and the Car (Lexus 330) in question was released to you from his pool to work for him and be returned on completion of the assignment, and he promised to buy a car for you if you deliver on your promises to win the primary election.

"The agreement was that this acclaimed gifted car would be recovered from you to give you another Car to compensate your efforts, after you must have delivered on promises, which you eventually failed to do.

"There was no transfer of Ownership document because it was not a gift but was released to you to carry out an assignment of mobilization of delegates to enable him win election, but this condition was not fulfilled by you. You voted against him, and you showed your vote to the Senator's Agent in the voting center.

"That instead of fulfilling your promises, you voted against him and mobilize delegates against him, and he lost all the votes of Ondo East and West on the instructions of your political god fathers.

"Thereafter, you went ahead to go and forge "Change of Ownership" of the said car in your favor and sworn two different affidavits that the car was sold to you by Senator Ayo Akinyelure, while the second affidavit stated that it was a gift from Senator Ayo Akinyelure (two contradictions) and you went ahead to go and register his car in your own name without his authority. As a lawyer you should know that this is a case of conversion of another man’s property and a perjury for lying on oath.

"You also went ahead to collect $5,600 for 7 delegates at $800 each and N150,000 for hotel expenses collected from his house with your instruction by Wole Akinjo, CINCERO Akindiose and Oriola AKINWONMI on 23rd May 2022 at about 6am in the morning and you confirm delivery of cash to you on phone when the 3men got back to you for the 7 Delegates in your care to vote for him, when you know that you were not going to vote for him. You confirm that you never voted for him, this is a breach of verbal agreement with Sen Ayo Akinyelure, an action that will not entitle you to be given a car after the election out of some cars already bought by him to be distributed after the primary to some chairmen and others he promised along with you

"The five (5) Cars bought by Senator Ayo Akinyelure to be given as gifts to you and others are in his residence in Akure out of which he had already given two (2) out to his loyalists, despite losing at the party primaries, assuming you deliver on your promises you would have gotten your own car on return of his Lexus car as agreed.

Therefore your claim that he collected a gifted car from you for work done on 2019 is false and a cheap blackmail. The Senator is a man of integrity and he is known to be a "talk and do" Senator of Ondo Central

These are the reasons he requested you return the car with all the Money collected from the Senator for the seven (7) delegates and hotel bill obtained by false pretenses, or face a court action for perjury and conversion of his property without his lawful authority.

You are therefore given 24 hours to return the money collected from him in your best interest. You only returned the said car on the strong advise of Police officers in charge of recovery on police intervention on 24th May 2022, but up till now you refuse to return the $5,600 and N150,000 you instructed him to transfer to account of Wole Akinjo for hotel expenses of 6 and yourself making 7 delegates that slept in the hotel in Ondo and delivered to you by Wole Akinjo as claimed by him. Instead, you engaged in blackmailing him in various social media platforms an action that will be actionable per se.

This is therefore, to state that Distinguished Senator Ayo Akinyelure, FCA, did not collect cars he bought for party leaders as claimed in some social media platforms like the Telegraph, but only collected the car given to him from his pool for an assignment and meant to be retuned on completion.

However, the Distinguished Senator will not be perturbed through your cheap and baseless blackmailing as no one can drag the good name he had built over the years in political mud in Ondo State and Nigeria at large.

Akinyelure had blamed the loss on Monday on the immediate past Governor, Olusegun Mimiko.