Politics
Ladoja in renewed bid to unseat Ajimobi
By Olusesan laoye
The battle for the Agodi government house, Ibadan has shifted to the Election Petition Tribunal as Senator Rashidi Ladoja of the Accord Party promises to remove Governor Abiola Ajimobi from office. But Ladoja is being castigated by other candidates and elders for not accepting defeat. OLUSESAN LAOYE reports
Despite the fact that both Governor Abiola Ajimobi and the former Governor Rashidi Ladoja have shifted the battle for the Agodi seat of power to the Election Petition Tribunal, the duo are still engaged in verbal attacks in continuation of the bitter rivalry following the outcome of the April 11, 2015 Oyo State governorship election.
With what that is going on now in the state and with Ladoja’s promise to fight Ajimobi till the end, to ensure that his victory is upturned, the question being asked by the people of Oyo State is ‘how far can Ladoja go’ to stop Ajimobi who has broken the 19-year old second term jinx in Oyo State.
The war of words between the two politicians who are cousins has been on for a long time. It started when the agreement that existed between them, immediately Ajimobi won his first term failed. The then Action Congress of Nigeria of Ajimobi and the Accord Party (AP)had entered into an accord in the governance of the state, when it became glaring that the ruling government could not form majority in the state House of Assembly and it needed to form an alliance with either the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, or the Accord Party.
But because of the animosity and the hatred which they both harboured against the PDP then and its governorship candidate, Adebayo Alao Akala, the Governor Ajimobi decided to enter into the accord with Ladoja. But as soon as it was glaring that Ladoja showed interest in contesting the last governorship election, the accord between them broke down and that was when the battle between them was renewed and it has continued even after the polls.
Before the April election, the battle between the two political parties and their leaders was so intense that it also spread to their supporters, associates and personal aides. Both Ladoja and Ajimobi have in a way personalized what supposed to be a mere party politics which they should both play and move on with their lives. At the peak of the electioneering campaign, what got both Ajimobi and Ladoja agitated and personalized the rift are the issues of the N500 millions shares allegedly received by Ladoja when he was the governor and the cost of the overhead bridge and dualisation of some township roads which Ladoja’s group alleged was inflated by Ajimobi’s government. They became serious campaign issues and generated a lot of heat with accusations and counter accusations flying between the two warring groups.
What is now bothering the people of the state is the ongoing battle between the two leaders as Ladoja has vowed that he would ensure that Ajimobi vacates the governorship seat, despite the wide margin with which he won the last governorship election that was contested by five political parties of the APC, PDP, Social Democratic Party, SDP; Labour Party, LP; and the Accord Party.
Other contestants have accepted the result and have been advising Ajimobi on what should be done to ensure that he governed well and for the benefit of the people of the state. Although it may be unknown to Ladoja, other political parties appear to have expressed reservation about his action. Their attitude towards the petition Ladoja filed to challenge the victory of Ajimobi showed clearly that they believed that the move was uncalled for.
Other argument said to have been raised against Ladoja was that since it was their common resolve before the election to ensure that Ajimobi did not come back for a second term, which now made him to be the first to rule the state for a second term in the past 19 years, they believed that Ladoja who is older than all of them should have given his support to one of them, especially the youngest, Engineer Seyi Makinde of the SDP. It was believed that even if the PDP was not willing to team up with them, the votes of the Labour Party, Accord Party and that of the SDP would have been enough to knock out Ajimobi, but for the fact that Ladoja refused the advice which gave room for Ajimobi to return for a second term, and they are not happy with him.
Already the atmosphere is now charged in the state because of the petition which Ladoja filed at the Tribunal and his believe that the Tribunal will favour him. Last week Ladoja still assured his supporters while distributing the Ramadan gifts to them that they should be patience because he has enough evidence to show that Ajimobi did not win the election. He claimed that the election was manipulated for him by the man he described as Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s friend who headed INEC in Oyo State.
Ladoja since the result of the election was announced, has never stopped saying that Ajimobi would not spend his ‘’so called second term.’’ Shortly after the result of the governorship election and as the ruling APC government and its supporters were jubilating, Ladoja too assembled his supporters to mock the jubilation of the APC as he warned the APC not to allow the jubilation to go beyond that, saying that APC should not allow them to do ‘’what is illegal with anybody who provokes us because any provocation would be resisted and that the Accord party would fight to the end.’’
He even assure his supporters and gave them the confidence that, as long as the protest would not be violent ‘’I will not mind leading the protest.’’ He also pointed out that the party would not mind to respond appropriately to anyone who behaves in a violent manner to them, but added that no matter the provocation they would try to pursue their demand legitimately and legally as well. “We shall ensure that we retrieve our stolen mandate’’
Also Ladoja believes that the result of the election did not reflect the mood of the people and that it puts the people of the state in a mournful mood. He did not say this only once, he kept repeating it all the time that the APC’s victory has brought sorrow into Oyo state and that if it was not challenged so that the result would reflect what the people wanted, it means they would contend with what they get and the people would remain in their mournful situation and slavery for another four years. ‘’To prevent this we must ensure that he did not spend the four years because our people cannot afford to be in perpetual bondage.’’
But since the utterances of Ladoja did not go down well with the APC and Ajimobi, the party’s Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare has responded to the verbal attacks on the governor and the party. Sadare castigated Ladoja, saying that he only wanted to truncate the peace being enjoyed by the people of the state, since Ajimobi came to power four years ago. He said that Ladoja has been a failure since he has been contesting elections, adding that the election that brought him into power in 2003 was not as transparent as the one which Ajimobi won in April 2015.
He pointed out that the intention of Ladoja was to make the state ungovernable for the APC government, which won one of the freest and credible elections ever held in Oyo State. Sadare, also lampooned Ladoja and accused him of living in illusion due to the false prophesy that he was sitting on Ajimobi’s governorship chair. This he pointed out was the reason why Ladoja was arrogant and disdainful of the people and their wishes.
With Ladoja’s statements after election and which has become a sing song by his supporters across the state, Governor Ajimobi too had no option than to come out with a threat that he would not hesitate to deal with anybody who violates the peace of the state, saying that as the chief security officer of Oyo State, anyone who violates the peace of the state would pay dearly for it because no one ‘’is above the law.’’
On the latest development concerning the petition of Ladoja challenging Ajomobi at the Election Petition Tribunal, the Governor argued that he was not moved by Ladoja’s antics or what he is pursuing because he won the election clean and clear. According to him, APC won 25 percent in 29 local governments which no other political party did. The Accord Party only had 17. The APC he further said won in sic of the political zones out of seven. His party that challenged Ajimobi’s victory, some notable indigenes of the state especially elders in Ibadan have called on Ladoja to withdraw the case at the Tribunal to give peace a chance but Ladoja has vowed that he would fight the case to a logical conclusion.
Also Senator Lekan Balogun who could now be regarded as the strong man of Ibadan politics said in an interview with Hallmark that since he is no longer interested in elective and political position and that he has now become the father of all in Oyo politics. He was reacting to Ladoja’s petition and said, that Ajimobi could not boast of victory yet, until the Tribunal discharges with Ladoja’s petition.
Meanwhile, the Oyo state election Petition Tribunal at its inaugural sitting revealed that it has received 36 petitions, while the governorship and the national assembly amounted to 10. Justice J G Busaga pointed out that in addition to that, the Tribunal received 24 petitions in respect of the state Assembly election. He promised that the Tribunal will not exceed the 180 days stipulated by the law for all the cases before it and warned all the petitioners not to do anything that would delay their matter. Justice Busaga further said that he will not tolerate parties and their counsels to the gallery.
Chief Richard Ogunwole (SAN) who responded on behalf of the lawyers said they will do everything to give the Tribunal their support, but called on the Tribunal to implore INEC to respond adequately to any request for documents needed to prosecute their cases.
In another development which is part of the efforts of Senator Ladoja to fight Ajimobi to the finish, Hallmark was informed that the libel suit filed against Ajimobi and the APC over the allegation of theft of N500 million shares belonging to Oyo State, by Ladoja’s government and the argument about whether Ladoja refunded the money while he was pursuing the case with the EFCC, has now be renewed by Lodoja’s legal team. It was gathered that Ladoja has instructed his lawyers to reopen the case and pursue it along with the case he has filed at the Tribunal to fight Ajimobi and his government.
