A member of the House of Representatives, representing Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency of Ondo State, Prince Jimi Odimayo, on Saturday, said he didn’t distribute inconsumable repackaged bags of rice to his constituents during the Yuletide.
Victor Adedeji, his Media Aide, while dismissing the report, said the video featuring an unidentified woman speaking in the Ikale dialect was actually referring to the rice distributed by the state governor and not that of his boss.
The statement partly reads, “The attention of the Member of the House of Representatives, representing the people of Okitipupa/Irele federal constituency, Hon. (Prince) Okunjimi Odimayo has been drawn to a report from Starnews NG that the lawmaker shared dangerous rice with constituents during the Yuletide.
“The public is strongly encouraged to dismiss these allegations, considering them not just malicious but also an unscrupulous attempt by detractors to tarnish the hardworking image of Hon. Jimi Odimayo. His unwavering commitment to delivering democratic benefits to constituents remains steadfast.
“The video featuring an unidentified woman speaking in the Ikale dialect, mentioning ‘Rice yi governor pen,’ referred to the rice distributed by the governor. Despite claims by Starnews NG, the woman didn’t specifically mention Hon. Jimi Odimayo. Instead, she consistently highlighted that the rice distributed by the governor was of substandard quality.
“Therefore, the reports made by Starnews NG lack basis, are groundless and appear to stem from political motives”, Odimayo said in the statement.
However, in a swift reaction, a group under the aegis of Aiyedatiwa Support Group Okitipupa, has called on the Lawmaker to face his problem and not drag the Governor into his mess according to them.
The group in a statement signed by its president, Ayebiwo Omolara and Adeyeye Dipo, exonerated the state Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, saying the Governor didn’t distribute a repackaged bags of rice across Ondo State.
The group said, “our attention has been drawn to a poorly written and unprofessional statement credited to Hon. Jimmy Odimayo by his Media Aide where he exonerated himself from distributing dangerous rice to his constituents and attempted to put the blame on his Excellency, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the executive Governor of Ondo State.
“For the record, the bag of rice featuring a woman in the said video was branded in the name of Hon. Jimmy Odimayo. The woman in that video called him the governor because that’s the new name given to Odimayo by members of our party for his desperation and overambitious lifestyle.
“We have different versions of the videos showing the branded dangerously repackaged bags of rice in his name which were distributed across the federal constituency by the Lawmaker.
“He should take responsibility and defend himself by explaining why he distributed dangerous and inconsumable bags of rice to our people instead of attacking the Medium and substituting blame.
“His Excellency should not be dragged into his problems. Some leaders of the party has called him over this dangerous rice distributed by him that it was bad. We also have other videos and testimonies from beneficiaries which authenticates the media report that the rice distributed by the Lawmaker was not consumable,” the statement said.
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