Second Chance for Fasoranti

Dr. Taiwo Fasoranti is back as Secretary to the Ondo State Government (SSG), months after stepping away from the role to chase a Senate seat that, by some accounts, should have been his in the first place.

Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa announced the reappointment through his Chief Press Secretary, Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, confirming it took immediate effect. Fasoranti had resigned as SSG on March 30, 2026, to contest the APC senatorial primary for Ondo Central.

Officially, he lost that primary to incumbent Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire. But his camp tells a different story. Reports and court filings allege he actually won the contest, only to be substituted by the APC’s National Working Committee in Abuja. This claim is now at the centre of a lawsuit filed by Aiyedatiwa loyalists against the party’s national leadership.

That backdrop makes this reappointment less an act of routine mercy and more a deliberate statement. For nearly four months, the SSG position remained effectively unfilled, which some observers interpret to mean that the governor always intended for Fasoranti to return if the senatorial bid fell through.

There is also a name behind the name. Fasoranti is the son of the late Pa Reuben Fasoranti, longtime National Leader of Afenifere, one of the South-west’s most influential socio-political groups. Sidelining him after what his camp calls a stolen mandate risked friction with a politically sensitive family and legacy.

This is not new territory for Ondo’s politics.

Aiyedatiwa’s predecessor, the late Rotimi Akeredolu, kept a similar open door for loyalists who resigned to contest elections, as seen with Donald Ojogo in 2022. Aiyedatiwa himself has followed the pattern before, retaining key allies during his 2025 cabinet dissolution.

Announcing the reappointment, the governor described Fasoranti as bringing “a wealth of experience in public administration, policy formulation, and governance,” and charged him to serve with dedication and integrity under the state’s Our Ease agenda.

For Fasoranti, it is a return to a familiar office. For Ondo watchers, it is further evidence that in the politics of the Sunshine State, even if a resignation means 10,000 things, a permanent goodbye is not one of them.