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| Sen. Rasheed Ladoja |
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State is taunting a former governor of the state, Rasheed Ladoja, saying the incumbent governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has already knocked him out of active politics and that’s final.
The party’s claim followed a media report in which Ladoja, who was the gubernatorial candidate of Accord Party (AP) at the April 11, 2015 general elections in the state, said neither APC, nor a combination of Ajimobi and a former governor of the state, Adebayo Alao-Akala, who also contested for the governorship seat on the platform of Labour Party (LP) could send him to political oblivion.
Alao-Akala has signified his intention to defect from LP to APC. But the APC in a statement issued today by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, stated that it could only sympathise with Ladoja, who he described as fighting a lost battle as far as the 2015 gubernatorial election in Oyo State was concerned “for jejune personal reasons.”
Ladoja had stated in the media report: “Am I in oblivion yet? No, I am not. Or is it the association of Alao-Akala and Ajimobi that will send me to oblivion? No, it cannot.
Therefore, you cannot say it is over yet. It is too early to say they would send me to political oblivion.
“Definitely, at a certain time, I will have to retire from active politics when I become Olubadan of Ibadanland.
At that time, can I still play active politics? But today I am not yet Olubadan, and it is not sure that I will become Olubadan. I only pray that I will become Olubadan.
But Sadare contended that “it is to the common knowledge of the public that Ladoja’s political career has ended on a sad note and his pains in this regard are self-inflicted.
“If not self-delusion; what else can make a septuagenarian, who has had to lose same election consecutively for a record three times after being imposed on the people for a disastrous first term, believe he could be governor again in a state where competent and promising materials are in abundance?
“Pointedly, Ladoja’s perceived political relevance has always been exaggerated as lacks virtually all the qualities of those who have made and those who still make indelible marks in the political space globally.
But with his recent resolve to rock the boat of democracy and good governance in the state, he has nailed his own political coffin.”
The APC stated, however, that Ladoja stands a good chance of staging a comeback and become an issue in the politics and governance of Oyo State if he could meet certain conditions including coming up “with a magic to reduce his age by at least 20 years.”
While the APC was busy taunting Ladoja, the former governor disclosed that he has taken his battle to unseat Governor Ajimobi to the Supreme Court over controversies surrounding the April 11, 2015 governorship election in the state.
Ladoja, who contested the poll on the platform of the Accord Party, said he has filed his appeal before the apex court today.
This is coming barely two weeks after the Court of Appeal, sitting in Ibadan, affirmed the Tuesday October 27, 2015 verdict of the Justice Mohammed Mayaki-led election petition tribunal that affirmed the victory of Governor Ajimobi.
Senior Media Assistant to Ladoja, Alhaji Lanre Latinwo, in a statement made available to newsmen in Ibadan this evening, noted that the five man panel at the appellate court led by Justice H.M. Ogunjumiju delivered its judgment on Thursday December 17, 2015, but the court did not release the judgment to Ladoja’s legal team till about 4:30p.m local time on Tuesday December 29, 2015, which was 12 days after the judgment was delivered.
The five-man panel of judges in the unanimous decision, had held that Ladoja’s appeal lacked merit and that the evidence of the principal witness, Bimbo Adepoju, tagged PWI, was inadmissible.
The appellate court also dismissed a separate appeal filed by the Accord Party on which platform Ladoja contested, for lack of merit.
According to him, Ladoja has 14 days to file the case before the Supreme Court, adding that the case was eventually filed today, December 30, which was the last day to the deadline stipulated by law.
He expressed concerns on why the judgment, which is among key documents to be submitted by the petitioners at the apex court, was not released on time, saying: “if not for God and the determination of Senator Ladoja and his legal team, the petition would have suffered a technical difficulty.”
Lantinwo further stated that Ladoja “gave glory to God that this deliberate and very obvious conspiracy against the honest pursuit of justice failed.
The petition has been filed at the apex court. Senator Ladoja also reiterated his belief in the Supreme Court to render due justice to his petition and that of Accord Party. God is on the side of truth.”
