Sunshine Reporters

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[Wándé T. Àjàyí @WandeTAjayi]

Aiyedatiwa Summons LG Chairmen to Deny ₦5m Allocation, Critics Slam Hypocrisy

Local Government Chairmen in Ondo State have been reportedly summoned to Akure by Governor @LuckyAiyedatiwa, following Sahara Reporters’ revelation that each council receives barely ₦5 million monthly from the hundreds of millions allocated by the federation account. Multiple sources who spoke under condition of anonymity disclosed that the chairmen were brought in with the sole intention of compelling them to sign rebuttals that deny the report and affirm that the government has been transparent with council allocations.

One of the insiders described the move as a “command performance,” noting that many chairmen privately admit the @SaharaReporters figure is close to reality but lack the courage to speak openly. “They will be asked to toe the governor’s line or risk political consequences. It is about protecting an image that everyone knows is false,” the source said.

Critics have seized on the development to highlight what they describe as Aiyedatiwa’s political double standard. While publicly lobbying to lead President @officialABAT re-election campaign in Ondo State, the governor is accused of dismantling Tinubu’s loudest reform legacy, local government autonomy. Analysts argue that his actions expose a troubling hypocrisy, as he presents himself as a loyalist to the president while undercutting the very principles Tinubu has built political capital upon.

“This is not just control of funds, it is control of truth,” another political source remarked. “A governor cannot suppress council autonomy at home and then turn around to market Tinubu’s reforms to the people. That contradiction is glaring, and it makes his campaign posturing look confused at best and deceptive at worst.”

Observers believe the strategy of forcing denials will do little to change public perception, as grassroots realities tell a different story. With roads in disrepair, basic amenities lacking and councils starved of funds, many argue that the state government’s theatre of denials cannot mask the emptiness of an administration that appears more committed to spin than to service.

[Wándé T. Àjàyí @WandeTAjayi]

Is This What Ondo Really Needs?

by Wándé T. Àjàyí

For someone like me, a member of the opposition, I should be dancing on the ashes of the APC’s implosion in Ondo State. I should clap as Governor @LuckyAiyedatiwa wrestles with Abuja shadows, tearing his own party and administration apart. But of what use is politics when development is stagnated? To what end would it be to celebrate when my dear state is forced to endure five years of retardation under a governor more obsessed with massaging his over-bloated ego than birthing a single legacy project? Power without purpose is vanity and Ondo today has been reduced to a theatre of absurd with the Governor as its main actor.

Anyone who truly loves this state would not rejoice at the bitter cold war between Lucky Aiyedatiwa and @BTOofficial, the Minister of Interior. What ought to be a partnership for the State's progress has instead been reduced to a mere gladiatorial contest of egos. To Aiyedatiwa, BTO is not a ladder for Ondo’s advancement but a rival to be crushed, a phantom opponent in a contest yet to be declared. He has refused to leverage Tinubu's professed starboy for development and instead spends his energy fighting an “Abuja cabal” while ignoring the real battles at home. He is not angry that our cocoa wealth remains largely untapped, that our palm oil economy is not harnessed, that our coastline, the longest in West Africa, lies in waste. His fury is reserved for a hike in passport fees. Is he even aware an attack on BTO is a direct assault on the Tinubu led FG? That is the depth of our Governor’s vision for the State.

Meanwhile, governance in Ondo is now a ghost. Projects are flagged off with cameras and fanfare, and abandoned with ease. Contractors disappear, hospitals decay and schools unconducive. Just days ago, our women affairs ministry shamelessly touts Abuja’s crumbs as its scorecard. Our local governments are reduced to beggars, receiving a paltry ₦5 million out of their hundreds of millions in monthly allocations. Transparency and accountability have been buried deeper than oil wells. While you can't drive anywhere in Ondo State for 5 minutes without having to dodge a pothole, our governor is obsessed with roundabouts. Yet, the governor does not rage at this collapse. He rages instead at imaginary enemies in Abuja, driven by his fear that Bunmi Tunji-Ojo may one day contest against him.

Of a truth, I should not be surprised. I foresaw this tragedy and warned my people. This is what happens when a man stumbles upon power without clear vision, when his highest ambition was no more than a House of Reps seat until luck threw him into the Government House. Lucky Aiyedatiwa is a cosmetic governor, obsessed with optics, allergic to substance and terrified of rivals. And so I ask again, is this what Ondo needs? Surely not. Ondo needs builders, not jesters, visionaries, not gamblers. If Uncle Lucky insists on squandering his tenure trembling at the shadow of BTO while ignoring the cries of his people, then let the opposition and the people prepare the banner of rescue. After all, the only project this governor has executed with consistency is his fear of Bunmi Tunji-Ojo.

[Shanmukh Art @ShanmukhSripada]

160 hours. 1 artwork. 1 iconic @ManUtd team. ❤️

Thrilled to finally share my drawing of one of Manchester United's greatest teams! ✏️

Creating this piece over a month took me right back to that magical night in Moscow '08. Hope it brings a smile to every United fan 🫶🏽

#MUFC

[David Ornstein @David_Ornstein]

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[Wándé T. Àjàyí @WandeTAjayi]

Who is issuing a query on TVC while covering Buhari burial in Daura? 😆😂

[Damylak @Damylak_nani]

Yo guys! Your boy Damylak is in the house already, and the voting process have started. By following these process. Vote as many times as you want. The remark should be “Damylak EM-7”. Let’s go! #KoreectNation. #Ganduje #Shettima #Empirerealitytvshow #Iran #isreal

[Wándé T. Àjàyí @WandeTAjayi]

GRACE WALKED WITH HIM: THE STORY OF SEGUN OMOYOFUNMI

by Wándé T. Àjàyí

There are stories that defy logic, that silence doubt, and that remind us that grace is not just a concept but a living, breathing miracle. The journey of @OmoyofunmiSegun is one of such stories etched in pain, perseverance, and divine providence.

It was on a black Friday, July 13, 2012, that tragedy struck. A bus in the convoy of student leaders returning from an official event in Abuja were involved in a ghastly accident at Uso, Owo LG on their way back to Akure. The nation’s student movement was shaken. Comrades fell. Bright flames were extinguished in their prime. And among the battered survivors lay Segun Omoyofunmi, barely breathing, bones fractured, life hanging by a thread.

At the time, Segun was the President of the Students’ Union at the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure (FECA), and by that position, a Senator of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). He was known in those circles as a fierce voice of justice, a true comrade, a rallying force. Yet in those harrowing hours after the crash, it seemed certain that he would become the fifth casualty. Death and darkness hovered.

He was to be moved to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, alongside the late Equity and PapaStill, while AB One and others lay groaning in Federal Medical Centre, Owo. But then came his father, a man of quiet defiance and faith. Against medical counsel and desperate pleas, he insisted on taking his broken son home. I remember walking up to him, trying to convince him otherwise in Ikale. “He doesn’t look like someone who would make it through the night,” I said, my voice thick with fear. But Baba Omoyofunmi smiled, a calm, stubborn smile, and looked me in the eye: "Boyi, sa jẹ din ka gbe lọ ule." Let us at least take him home.

It was hard to watch them go.

But a few weeks later, a whisper spread. First came the news that Baba Omoyofunmi had passed on, perhaps carrying the weight of his faith into eternity. Then, like morning sun breaking through storm clouds, came the miracle: Segun was sitting up, walking, laughing again. IBB, as we fondly called him, was back on his feet. Grace had not just walked with him, it had carried him.

On Thursday night, Governor @LuckyAiyedatiwa named him a Commissioner-designate in Ondo State. The same Segun Omoyofunmi who once battled for every breath now stands tall, called to serve his people, raised by history, and anointed by the tears, scars, and prayers of those who knew his journey.

And somewhere, beyond this realm, Baba Omoyofunmi must be smiling, proud, fulfilled, perhaps even shedding a tear of joy. For his stubborn faith has become our shared miracle.

To the Governor, we say thank you, not just for the appointment, but for recognizing a story that deserves to be told, remembered, and celebrated.

And to Segun, dear IBB, your life is a hymn to hope. You walked through fire and came out gold. All of us who witnessed your rise are humbled, grateful, and inspired. This is not the end of your story. This is only a grander beginning. Do not rest on your oars. Let this appointment become your proving ground. Let your service write new chapters that silence every doubt and bury every naysayer in the dust of excellence. Let your name be forever linked, not only to survival, but to a legacy that inspires, uplifts, and rebuilds. The world is watching. Your comrades are cheering. History has opened its pages. Now write.

[Sunshine Reporters @SunshineReport_]

@UtdPlug @FabrizioRomano Bye bye!

[Wándé T. Àjàyí @WandeTAjayi]

A Hundred Days of Gloss: Cosmetologist Aiyedatiwa and the Gospel According to Glamour

By Wándé T. Àjàyí

One hundred days. A hundred photo ops. A hundred press statements. A hundred ribbon cutting of projects that exists only in the dusty recesses of a budget document. In a country where style trumps substance, Govenor Aiyedatiwa has emerged not as just a student of this gospel, but as its high priest. He came, he posed, he pontificated. But has he governed? Aiyedatiwa's hundred days is a perfect study in how to spend the people's money on nothing and then ask them to clap. We are witnessing a government that has mastered the art of commissioning new contracts while abandoning inherited ones, a government that forgets that progress is not in how sharp the picture is but in the picture.

Take a trip down the Ore-Okitipupa death trap of a road. Ask the people of Ese-Akoko to point to State Government presence in their town. Ask the contractors who has packed their equipment and fled due to non-payment, even after Ilaje Pocolee's signature. But don't you dare ask the government. They are too busy sharing fresh contracts with figures bloated enough to float the Titanic.

And then there's the infamous health recruitment debacle. Thousands of hopefuls lured with the promise of gainful employment, made to pay for forms, attend screenings, sit for tests, and now they sit at home, jobless, mocked by the silence of a government that cashed the application fees but forgot to create the jobs. In other climes, this would be called a scam. In Aiyedatiwa’s Ondo, it is called policy.

Yet, amid this spectacular inertia, the allocation flows. Month after month, Ondo State takes home one of the fattest federal cheques in the South West, but it ends up as an invisible investment. Where does it go? We see no new schools. We see no industrial zones. We see no roads. But we see SUVs. We see billboards. We see branded Ankara. We see the gospel of glam at work.

Most damning of all is the governor’s willful blindness to the South of Ondo, the very region that oils the state’s economic engine. Ilaje, Ese-Odo, and Ijaw communities, blessed with oil, gas, bitumen, and a blue economy begging for action, continue to wallow in abandonment. Sea incursion has devoured the lands of Ayetoro, yet not a kobo of serious intervention has sailed their way. The riverine belt cries for a seaport, for marine economy infrastructure, for roads not swallowed by mangroves. But the governor, a son of the soil, governs as if allergic to saltwater.

And now, on this centenary of ceremonial governance, the drums are beating. The praise-singers have taken over the airwaves. They call him “performer-in-chief.” They say he has stabilized the state. What they mean is that he has stabilized stagnation. That he has governed with the calm of someone perfectly at peace with underperformance. The tragedy is not just the lies. It is that they are told so confidently.

But history is not written in hashtags. It is carved in concrete. And when the lights of propaganda fade, when the rented crowds go home, and when the records are opened, the truth will out. Aiyedatiwa’s first hundred days have shown us not the promise of a new dawn, but the recycling of old deceptions. No vision. No legacy. Just confetti without a celebration. A government at ease with appearance. A state sinking beneath the weight of cosmetic governance. Lucky indeed.

[Sunshine Reporters @SunshineReport_]

@UnitedStandMUFC We should trust these youngsters more.

[Sunshine Reporters @SunshineReport_]

@SkySportsPL They'd probably anticipated the question and prepared Amad for the reply.

[Sunshine Reporters @SunshineReport_]

@UtdFaithfuls Why is he even going on loan? I've not seen Barca loan their best young players in a long while.

[Wándé T. Àjàyí @WandeTAjayi]

Sixty Days, No Cabinet: Aiyedatiwa's Impeachable Offense

By Wándé T. Àjàyí

Naturally, one would think that after the long months of political drama and the eventual swearing-in of Governor @LuckyAiyedatiwa as the substantive Governor of Ondo State, we would finally see focused leadership. Instead, what we are witnessing is a new brand of cosmetic governance and a total disregard for the Nigerian Constitution.

Section 192 subsection 1 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, clearly states that a Governor must appoint commissioners within sixty (60) days of taking the oath of office. Not when convenient. Not when the political weather is right. Sixty days. It is a constitutional command, not a suggestion for discussion in future meetings. Yet the Governor has comfortably moved past the deadline like a man avoiding a family meeting he knows he is guilty in.

Even more curious is the position of the Attorney General of the State, @KayodeAjulo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. One would expect the learned silk to raise a red flag and remind his boss of this important obligation. Instead, the Attorney General appears content watching the theatre unfold, perhaps being in office supersedes the weight of constitutional duty. If the chief law officer cannot whisper the law into the Governor’s ears, who then will?

Equally troubling is the silence of members of the Ondo State House of Assembly. These are supposed representatives of the people, many of whose constituencies are already being sidelined in appointments and governance. Yet not a word, not even a whimper. They sit comfortably in the chamber, endorsing silence like a rubber-stamping machine on auto mode. If those elected to speak truth to power prefer to fold their arms and watch governance slide into constitutional delinquency, then the people must begin to ask who exactly they are representing.

A state without a cabinet is not a mark of efficiency. It is a sign of power concentrated in some hands, and those hands are yet to prove that they understand governance. Ondo State deserves better. Governance is not a one-man show and the law is not a buffet from which you pick only what pleases you. The people are watching, and we will never forget.

[Sunshine Reporters @SunshineReport_]

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[Sunshine Reporters @SunshineReport_]

@UtdDistrict Dem dey vex am

[Sunshine Reporters @SunshineReport_]

@mufcMPB 70%

[Sunshine Reporters @SunshineReport_]

@akomscopy Ganduje chewed throughout this video 🤔

[Sunshine Reporters @SunshineReport_]

@AmorimEra_ Martil would have been perfect for this Amorim side.

[Wándé T. Àjàyí @WandeTAjayi]

#Ondo@49: A Journey From Industrial Glory To Political Acrobatics

by Wándé T. Àjàyí

At 49, one would expect Ondo State to have reached the full bloom of its immeasurable potentials, standing tall among its peers as a beacon of progress and development. Alas, the Sunshine State remains a paradox, blessed with vast natural resources but still grappling with epileptic governance. The economy wobbles like a drunken tapper, and the infrastructural deficit makes you wonder if quality development is allergic to this part of Nigeria. From the oil-rich creeks of Ilaje to the cocoa farms of Idanre and the rich hilly rocks of Akoko, the state remains a classic example of wasted opportunities and recycled mediocrity.

Politically, Ondo is the land where loyalty changes faster than NEPA light. One moment, leaders swear allegiance to progressive ideals, and the next, they are dining with the opposition, all in the name of political survival. The godfather syndrome, an epidemic in Nigerian politics, has found a comfortable home here, with kingmakers pulling the strings while the hunger stricken mass watch helplessly. Elections in Ondo are less about ideas and more about stomach infrastructure, with politicians competing over who can distribute the most bags of rice and cash-stuffed envelopes. The result is a cycle of leadership that prioritizes personal ambition over the collective good.

Once upon a time, Ondo was an industrial hub, with factories and enterprises built by heroes past to sustain the economy. The Oluwa Glass Factory, Ifon Ceramics, and Okitipupa Oil Palm Company stood as testaments to visionary leadership. Today, they lie in ruins, either abandoned or sold for peanuts under the guise of privatization. Bitumen, which should have turned the state into Nigeria’s economic nerve center, remains untapped. Industrialization is now a mere campaign maxim, while youth unemployment continues to rise, forcing many to embrace the twin evils of cybercrime and political thuggery.

The state capital, Akure, still prides itself on being a developing city, even when cities established decades later have left it in the dust. Basic amenities like good roads, healthcare, and quality education remain the stuff of campaign promises that are fulfilled only in rhetoric.

In other sectors, it is the same tale of stagnation. Agriculture, once the backbone of the state, is now abandoned for the more lucrative venture of oil politics. Education, which was once the pride of old Ondo, is struggling under the weight of underfunding and neglect. The health sector is another area in crisis. If you fall sick and do not have money to be transferred to neighbouring States or abroad, God save your soul. Security is another matter entirely. While Amotekun do their best, kidnappers and bandits have turned highways into nightmares, collecting ransoms like tax collectors, and cultists killing and maiming for fun.

But it is actually not all doom and gloom for beloved Ondo State. Despite its many self-inflicted wounds, we can still turn things around. The solution is simple: good governance, accountability, and a willful commitment to real development rather than empty political showmanship. Leaders must wake up from their slumber and prioritize policies that empower the people, not just their pockets. Industrialization should move from lip service to reality, and the state’s natural resources should be properly harnessed for the benefit of all. With a year to its Golden Jubilee, those saddled with the State's fortunes must decide whether to embrace progress now or continue in the endless cycle of potential without performance. The choice, as always, lies in their hands.

Àjàyí writes from Uluuton, Ondo State.

[UF @UtdFaithfuls]

THIS IS PURE CINEMA.

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