GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State Wednesday cautioned his predecessor, Rashidi Ladoja and leader of Accord Party (AP) against inciting the populace against his government.

Speaking against the backdrop of criticisms by Ladoja and his party of his urban renewal project, the governor in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Festus Adedayo, described Ladoja’s claim as “cheap blackmail.”

Governor Ajimobi particularly took exception to a statement credited to Ladoja, which called him a total novice in the art of governance.

The governor, who said he had refrained all this while from exchanging words with Ladoja due to his age and office, added that he was, however, opposed to what he called “cheap campaign of calumny and persistent attempt to smear his government through subterfuge and dissemination of untruth to the populace.

“While the governor will not want to bandy words with his predecessor on who had a mastery of governance or who was a novice, he is of the view that the achievements of the two - the governor and his predecessor - are in the public domain and can be properly interrogated by the ordinary people on the streets and analysts not obsessed by a do-or-die craving to come to Agodi Government House again,” the statement said.

The statement added that the people of the state would judge rightly who was a novice and master of governance between a man who has given Oyo State an unprecedented two years of peaceful reign and another who, due to political brinkmanship, immaturity and alienation of the political class and the people, threw the state into an avoidable political inferno while sparring with the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu, an inferno that the state is yet to recover from.

“The people of Oyo State will judge rightly who is a novice and master between a man who could not muster majority members of the House of Assembly in his defence as governor while fighting someone who was fighting from outside and was thereby impeached with ignominy and a governor whom God has given the sagacity to manage a House of Assembly that comprises three different political parties and which, by the grace of God, is operating under an unprecedented amity,” the statement read.

While calling on the people to make adequate judgment on the impact of his government and that of Ladoja, Ajimobi said he had raised the bar of good governance in the state and is making it difficult for anyone whose understanding of governance is violence and crude politicking to fit into the new Oyo State.

“In less than two years, we have turned Oyo State into one huge construction company with road works going on in every nook and cranny. We have constructed over 200 roads and right now, dualisation of roads in the state capital and many major towns in the state is on-going; we have employed 20,000 youths and have been receiving endorsements from those who matter in the society about our transformation of Oyo State from a rural city that we inherited into a modern city, among others. We challenge the former governor to articulate how he developed Oyo State to the people’s hearing and stop embarking on a campaign of calumny against the government.

“The most articulate way of going about this is to tell the people how many roads Ladoja administration constructed; how many schools he built and how his government impacted on the generality of our people. That is more scientific, more functional than embarking on a wild goose chase. This will reveal who is the master of governance and who is the novice,” the statement said.

While reiterating the urban renewal policy of his government, Ajimobi said the gains of a state that every citizen would be proud of which his government embarked on, that is giving Oyo State respect among all and sundry, was far greater than whatever temporary pains anyone may be encountering now.

“Apart from Chief Bola Ige, no government in Oyo State history has built neighbourhood markets as we have done. Right now, we are building seven neighbourhood markets and 11 councils in Ibadan will be building at least three markets each to accommodate illegal street traders hawking goods on roadsides and flood plains whom we removed,” the government said.

Ajimobi called on Ladoja to join hands with him in the transformation of the state, stating that politics should be for the transformation of the people and not in deceiving them to believe that their messiah is their enemy.

Ladoja had in various statements berated Ajimobi over his anti-masses programmes, accusing him of neglecting people for plants.

His words: “I am surprised that government has been sinking boreholes to wet flowers when people of the state cannot get potable water in various homes, flowers and plants were made for man by God and not man for plants.”


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