Akeredolu’s Widow Blasts Monarch, Labels Him ‘Baby Oba’

The controversy surrounding the demolition of the Owo massacre cenotaph has taken a dramatic twist, as Betty Akeredolu-Anyanwu, widow of late Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, publicly slammed the Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Ogunoye, describing him as a “baby Oba” and accusing him of betraying her late husband’s memory.

In an emotionally charged video shared on her verified social media platforms, the former First Lady visited her husband’s gravesite in Owo on Tuesday and expressed deep disappointment over the monarch’s alleged role in the demolition of the monument built to honour the victims of the June 2022 St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church massacre.

Visibly shaken, Betty Akeredolu expressed grief over what she called an orchestrated attempt to erase her husband’s contributions to the town.

She said in a three-minute, 16-second video, “Darling, I’ve always known you to love your people to pieces, this is your Owo people. But look at what they’ve done to you.

“They didn’t blink an eye at rubbishing you, rubbishing your memory, rubbishing your legacy. As they claim, spearheaded by the Olowo of Owo, whom you single-handedly installed…. this is a known fact. It’s no longer a secret. You single-handedly installed that baby Oba.”

Addressing the palace’s claim that the cenotaph’s proximity to the palace was culturally inappropriate, the former governor’s widow argued that the site was never a cemetery but a symbolic memorial.

She alleged, “The Oba that doesn’t want the so-called cemetery, but that’s not a cemetery. There’s one behind his house. He sleeps with the dead.

“All the Olowos of Owo, where were they buried? Were they not buried in that place he’s living? Look at the hypocrisy!”

The cenotaph was pulled down following objections from the palace, which reportedly cited Owo’s long-standing cultural beliefs against housing death memorials near the royal palace.

The former First Lady didn’t spare Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, whom she accused of enabling political vendettas by allowing the demolition to take place.

“The governor is an enabler. This is all political. The demolition was to settle political scores,” she alleged.

She vowed to defend her late husband’s legacy against any attempt to erase his contributions, declaring her readiness to take on anyone who tries to “rubbish” his memory.

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