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First Round Of Election Tribunal In Oyo - Ladoja Floors Ajimobi / Senator Teslim Folarin (PDP) Lost His Polling Unit To Ladoja (accord) / Breaking: Akala Joins Ladoja’s Accord Party (2) (3) (4)
Ladoja, Accord Partyand The 2015 Race by Shegman22(m): 3:43pm On Jul 22, 2014 |
It appears there is no going back on the decision of Rashidi Ladoja to be on the ballot for 2015 governorship. His supporters have intensified their action to draft him into the race on the platform of the Accord Party. However, majority of the Peoples Democratic Party members would prefer he rather join the party if he is serious about winning. OLUSESAN LAOYE reports Listen to this article Ladoja, Accord Party and the 2015 race The name Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja as far as the politics of Nigeria is concerned is not strange. His impeachment as the governor of Oyo state in controversial manner is now being cited as reference in law courts. The Supreme Court upturned the impeachment of Ladoja and returned him back to his position as the governor, and this brought him to national spotlight. The impeachment saga was just the issue that brought him to the limelight; however, before then Ladoja was a shipping magnate with fleet of ships and was also involved in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). His ships were used to operate Radio Kudirat, during the NADECO struggle for the actualisation of the June 12, mandate. He had also contested and won a senatorial seat to represent Oyo Central Senatorial District. Despite his achievements, he depicts an amiable personality, soft looking but beyond that looks is hidden strength and political doggedness. Seeing Ladoja, you will know that he carries along humility and calmness with his wealth and style of life. So, Ladoja could best be described as a man who appears to be soft but hard. In the first place, politics which he dabbled into is not always for gentle men. That is why Ladoja who is a very tough man inwardly could survive business wise and politically too. To also show how tough Ladoja is, he is still very much interested to rule Oyo State in 2015 despite his bitter experience during his impeachment, his defeat in 2011 and the controversies which have been trailing his real age, as he is said to be too old to run for governorship again. In Oyo state today, he is one of the politicians so much talked about. Since 2011 that he went to the Accord Party to contest the governorship election, he has remained a force and the national leader of the party. He now stands as a symbol for the Accord Party especially in the South West. Right now, through his influence and leadership, the party is now growing in the South West. The party presented a popular and well known activist, Kole Ajayi, during the June 21, 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State. To a large extent he was able to establish the party in the state as the 4th political force in the state, trailing behind the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress, (APC), and the Labour Party (LP). The party is also fielding a strong and powerful politician, Barrister Niyi Owolade for the governorship election in Osun State, August 9, 2014. Owolade was a member of NADECO and former Attorney General of Osun State, when Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola was the governor of the state. Ladoja with his political experience and wealth was able to put Accord Party together in Oyo State in less than six months to the 2011 general elections in the country. He went to the Accord Party when it was clear that he could no longer get the ticket of the PDP to run for the governorship. He utilized his influence and the sympathy that the people of Oyo had for him over his impeachment to make the Accord Party win substantial seats at the state House of Assembly, and House of Representatives. He drew his strength from the rural areas. He won all the seats in Ibadan less cities. The performance of the Accord Party in the last election made Ladoja a force in Oyo politics, as the incumbent governor Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi had to depend on him to survive at the inception of his administration. Without the lawmakers of the Accord Party which teamed up with the APC lawmakers, it would have been difficult for the ruling party to produce the speaker. It was this arrangement that stabilised Ajimobi’s government. But the toughness in Ladoja manifested midway in political accord with Ajimobi and both had to part ways. This was not after Ajimobi had secured the required majority needed in the House with the defection of a member of the Accord Party and two of PDP lawmakers to the APC. Today, in Oyo State, Accord Party of Ladoja has been the party constantly on the lips of the people. But one thing which is worrisome and which is still not very clear to the people of the state is the ambition of Ladoja to run for the governorship again in 2015. If he accepts the offer, then it is another pointer to how hard and resilient Ladoja was. One would recall his display of hardness when the current political dispensation began. The Alliance for Democracy was looking for a credible candidate to fly the flag of the party in the 1999 governorship election in Oyo State, and Ladoja was approached by the late Chief Bola Ige and others to accept unchallenged the governorship candidate of the party but he bluntly refused, in spite of the fact that there was no candidate presented then in the South West by the AD, that would not win the election. He was considered for the post based on his relationship with the pro- democracy group NADECO, but to Ladoja, he fought as a nationalist not on sentiments or parochial intention. His reaction to the lofty gesture stunned Ige and others, who approached him. He told them frankly that he was not interested in a regional political party but a national party. That actually informed his joining the PDP. He contested the primary of the party to be the governor with Alhaji Yekini Adeojo and lost. But because he was so determined he fought back in 2003 and won the primary of the PDP with the same Adeojo he lost to in 1999 and in the election proper he also won. His tenure was controversial and because of his tough stance he had brushes with his political godfather, late Lamidi Ariyibi Adedibu who felt he would be able to control him as he had done to others whom he helped to power. Ladoja resisted Adedibu’s moves, and his firmness fetched him the impeachment which drove him out of office for eleven months. With Ladoja spending three years to nurture the Accord Party, and with his loyalists insisting that he must be the candidate of the party, some members of the party, opposition and the public believed that he should reject the overtures from some members of the party to contest in 2015, on account that he is old enough to have got a younger person that he could nominate as the governorship candidate of the party in 2015. Although, Ladoja has been speaking tough in condemnation of the attitude of the incumbent governor, Ajimobi towards governance in Oyo State, he has not come out categorically to say that he would contest the governorship. Recently, Ladoja in a statement condemning Ajimobi’s government, christened the Accord Party as a third force which would send the APC parking. It was at that forum too that he said that he could not talk about 2015 because God has not given him the certificate for the year and that if at the end of the day his party says he should contest, he would contest but ”I still don’t know what 2015 will all be about.” Although it was argued that Ajimobi should not have the problem he is facing now, if he had realised the kind of person Ladoja is and handled him with care. The accord he broke with Ladoja, it was said has been giving him serious headache. It was said that Ajimobi should have known that Ladoja does not take nonsense from anybody, despite being gentle and weak in appearance. This posture has always deceived a lot of people. Even when Tinubu felt Ladoja needed him during his impeachment saga and he wanted Ladoja to team up with him at that critical period of his travail, he rebuffed him and told Tinubu that he ”is a small boy”. He was said to have told his supporters that Tinubu should rather accept him (Ladoja) as a boss than him to be subservient to Tinubu. From the tone of the political situation in Oyo State now, it is becoming certain that Ladoja would contest the governorship under the Accord Party, despite divergent opinions about whether he should run or not. Already, the controversy about Ladoja’s interest has started. Some members of the PDP spear headed by the Minority Leader in the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon Rauf Adekunle said that Ladoja would only be endorsed to contest if he returns to PDP, because the Accord Party alone cannot guarantee his victory. But in a swift reaction to this claim, the Director of Publicity of the Accord Party, Prince Dotun Oyelade said that Ladoja cannot go back to PDP, adding that if he is going to contest the election in 2015, he would do it under the Accord Party, not any other political party. He said Ladoja has nurtured Accord Party for three years to reach its present enviable position, stressing that leaving the party would be unacceptable to the masses of the state that are now yearning for the Accord party to rule Oyo State, under the leadership of Ladoja. He said Ladoja has built the Accord Party in all the 33 local governments of Oyo State which has made the party to be very strong. As news that Ladoja would come out for the governorship is making round the state, it was said that about 50 notable politicians in Oyo State are currently working for him. Another group of people who called themselves veteran politicians have endorsed him. The group led by Mr. Jide Ajao, said Ladoja has been endorsed by the group to run in 2015. Also a state Assembly aspirant in the state, Mr. Olanrewaju Ayinde saw nothing in the intention of Ladoja to contest the coming governorship election in 2015. One of the founding members of the Accord Party, Mr. Dele Adigun once told Hallmark in an exclusive interview when he was asked about who Ladoja was, that the former governor may appear very soft but that he is a tough person who is equally realistic, generous and focused. He said he is a man who is a team leader who has always maintained a strong relationship with his followers, but would never take nonsense from any quarters. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Accord Party, Alhaji Bashiru Lawal has said that as far as the party is concerned, there is no vacancy for any other person in the party for 2015. He pointed out that the post is already reserved for Ladoja. ”Ladoja is our candidate for 2015 and right now no other spirants are welcomed.’’ |
Re: Ladoja, Accord Partyand The 2015 Race by thunderrider: 5:32pm On Jul 22, 2014 |
All this epistle for LADOJA Great write up but you could have made it shorter bro |
Re: Ladoja, Accord Partyand The 2015 Race by stevolinkon40: 10:12am On Jul 23, 2014 |
Great writeup bt d only thing abt him i may disagree wit is about his generosity. Thats his weakness. Man yen kala gan. |
Re: Ladoja, Accord Partyand The 2015 Race by Firefire(m): 10:14am On Jul 23, 2014 |
ok am coming: I remember the below: Firefire: Primate Babatunde Elijah Ayodele is the founder of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos. Renowned as a seer, he tells KEHINDE OYETIMI, in this interview, some of the occurrences Nigerians should expect in 2014 and in the nearest future. |
Re: Ladoja, Accord Partyand The 2015 Race by gbeseun(m): 11:14am On Jul 23, 2014 |
How old is ladoja,can't he leave d stage for young chaps like Seyi makinde ,dapo lam adesina etc to fight for.must he die in government house like abacha.greed |
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