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.’’

All this epistle for LADOJA

Great write up but you could have made it shorter bro

Great writeup bt d only thing abt him i may disagree wit is about his generosity. Thats his weakness. Man yen kala gan.

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.

Politics

Oyo State

If APC is not careful, it will lose Oyo State in 2015. APC will lose to Accord Party if only Ladoja does not contest. Please, kindly understand what I have just said. If APC is not careful, it will lose in 2015. That is a warning. When people get into government, they forget God so easily. It will be an election between Accord Party and the APC. It is left for the two of them to take caution.

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