My Ordeal In London – -FLORENCE AJIMOBI

  

Some months back, this magazine exclusively reported of how Oyo State first lady, Mrs Florence, Ajimobi live like an emperor who dictates what goes on in the inner circle of Oyo government. At that time, it was reported that the first lady perhaps would enter into the Guinness book of record as the most travelled first lady in Nigeria. For instance, shortly after her husband was sworn in, she tagged herself with the governor to embark on holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in a manner that can best described as jamboree.

No sooner had she arrived, she was to lead yet another delegation of Christians to Isreal for Christian tourism. Eyebrows were raised as to what could be the rationale for her junketing around the globe, most especially the two trip said to be for spiritual reasons.
Many had alleged money laundering; while her admirers submitted that she has been busy praying for the state and also for her husband.
Uncomfirmed reports last week however suggested that the first lady had made 52 trips out of the country to the United Kingdom alone in the last 17 months of attaining the new status of the first lady.
According to verifiable sources, the governor’s wife had reportedly jetted out of the Nigeria 51 times within a year and five months but was reportedly arrested on her 52nd trip outside the country while her husband has also been accused of embarking on 42 trips outside the country for both personal and official purposes within the same period earning him the nickname: the Flying Governor.
Sources within the Oyo state government confirmed that the governor and his wife had been travelling at every given opportunity, leading to suspicion that most of the travelling had been for the purpose of laundering state funds.
A source said “This has confirmed our suspicion that the governor and his wife had engaged in too many journey outside Nigeria while the state wallows in poverty and underdevelopment.
“Many residents of Ibadan have begun to regret making that decision to vote for Ajimobi in the last election, but given the circumstances at that period, it would have been difficult not to vote for him.”
A staff of the state Ministry of Information on Tuesday disclosed that the governor’s wife has returned to the UK to face charges that may be preferred.
Online publication reported that immediately Ajimobi became the governor, the First Lady allegedly became the contractor for the state with the state allocating most of its contract including the beautification project of the state, to her.
Mrs. Florence is alleged to have influenced the relocation of the Oyo State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA) to her office from the Ministry of Health, thereby managing the funds that come in to the committee through her office.
Just last week the first lady was the subject of media attention as allegation of her arrest too the centre stage she was said to have been arrested in London over money laundering and possession of about #400,000 British pounds. She has since denied the allegation.
Also in a statement made available by a media aide to the governor, Dr. Festus Adedayo, described the report as frivolous and sponsored by the opposition in the state to derail the administration’s people-oriented policies.
The statement which lamented the role of the opposition in the state by engaging in falsehood, disclosed that the suit would enable the media outfit give details of the report to the court and the world.
“Mrs. Ajimobi was never arrested for any offence whatsoever. Even though our investigations have shown that this is the work of some arrowheads of the opposition, it was done in such an amateurish way that beats the imagination of any responsible reader.”
My story  Mrs Ajimobi
WIFE of the Oyo State governor, Mrs Florence Ajimobi, on last week Wednesday, said her purported arrest in London would not deter her from travelling to the United Kingdom (U.K) to play her motherly role to her 14-year-old daughter attending school there.
She spoke in an interview with newsmen shortly after the Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Professor Temitope Alonge, led her on a visit to cancer patients and the mammography suites of the hospital, in commemoration of this year’s cancer week.
She was in company with the state Commissioner for Health, Mr Muyiwa Gbadegesin; Information and Orientation Commissioner, Mr Bosun Oladele; Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Commissioner, Mrs Tokunbo Fayokun and the full complement of her husband’s media team.
Mrs Ajimobi said she had learnt to be more careful in whatever she did, adding that her ordeal had made her a stronger person, antics of “dirty playing politicians” notwithstanding.
“I visit my 14-year-old daughter in the UK every three weeks. I won’t say because I am the first lady, stop playing my role as a mother. I have to care for my daughter. As a minor, she has to come home every three weeks. And I don’t have any other child there that can look after her.
“My son is in Birmingham, which is far away from where my daughter stays. So, I am going to keep performing my role as a mother to my daughter. If I have to go back tomorrow, I will, as long as I am not using government funds.
“She just did not go there yesterday; she has been there since 2007 and I have catered and cared for and nursed her. As a responsible mother, I will still go there and visit my daughter.
“And this daughter is subjected to coming home every half term and summer holiday, when her peers are outside there having summer holiday. Because I couldn’t afford to spend that much time with her since 2011, she comes home every holiday.
“But when she has to go home for the weekend, she cannot afford to come home (Nigeria). I go through the stress. And because I am the first lady of the state, I don’t stay as long as I used to stay. I went on Sunday and I am back today, which means I left yesterday (Tuesday) to get here this morning. So, let them know that I owe my children my duty as a mother and that I won’t give that up for anything,” she said.
Describing her husband’s government as God-ordained, she stressed that she and her husband would not be defeated by political detractors, as Governor Abiola Ajimobi would realise his vision for the state.
Speaking during her arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos aboard a Virgin Atlantic Airways aircraft, which landed at 6.50 a.m., Mrs Ajimobi described as laughable, the rumour of her arrest, affirming that she only travelled last Sunday to London to accompany her child, who returned to school.
Mrs Ajimobi,  while saying that she was not surprised at the extent  people can go to peddle rumour because of the dirty politics of Oyo State, however, added that the development has shown that the true test of any human being is ability to stand firm in times of crisis and controversy.
Her words: “I am here live as you can see, I have never had any encounter with the London Metropolitan Police, and I know I will never have.
“It is just rumour like you said, and I think the time has come for us in Nigeria to stop playing dirty politics, we should be very objective, when we are giving information, in particular members of the press, we should verify the information we are giving, and I just want to use this medium to say that the ultimate measure of any man or woman, is where you stand in times of conflict, challenges and controversy and not in times of comfort.
“I stand on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, and all other grounds is sinking sand .It is a phase, it will pass over, this is because I am more than a conqueror. It is the price I have to pay as the wife of a politician, in particular in Oyo State, where there is record of dirty politics. I do not have any blemish in my wardrobe, and I am never going to have any.”
She also used the occasion to clarify the rumour doing the rounds that she was arrested two weeks ago, saying that at the time in question that she travelled with her husband to Taipei, in Asia through Dubai for an official engagement.
“I went on an official visit to Taiwan with my husband, and we did not go to London, from Lagos, we went to Dubai, to Hong Kong, to Taipei, from there back to Hong Kong, to Dubai and back to Lagos.
“My international passport is there for the record, I could give my passport to you to photocopy and verify and return to me. It was also alleged that I had travelled out of this country for 52 times, that sounds very ridiculous to me, it means I do not even live in Nigeria. Like I said, we can make photocopy for verification.”