Ladoja must go this week -Adedibu
• No, he must stay, say Ibadan indigenes
From Hammed Bodunrin, Osogbo, and Akeeb Alarape, Ibadan
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
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Alhaji Adedibu |
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Ibadan politician, Chief Lamidi Adedibu says that the only solution to the lingering political crisis in Oyo State is the impeachment of Governor Rasheed Ladoja which he said must take place this week.
Adedibu insisted that nothing can stop the ongoing impeachment process as "majority of the lawmakers, all who matter in Oyo State and beyond, commoners and even God are in support of Ladoja's impeachment."
The governor's erstwhile godfather who also declared that President Olusegun Obasanjo was supporting him clarified that, "It is not that Obasanjo is supporting me blindly.He has reasons to support me. He has waded into the crisis several times but Ladoja never honoured any agreement.
There was a time when Obasanjo prostrated for me about six times, begging me. Ladoja is evil. He wants to rubbish me and others who worked for his victory. His impeachment is the only solution. We have many capable hands that can perform wonders in Oyo State."
Ade! dibu who featured on a personalty interview by the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation Monday said that the ongoing face-off was the last battle between him and Ladoja.
Though he did not give details of how the impeachment would be realised,the 14 days notice of impeachment purportedly served the Governor by 18 lawmakers loyal to Adedibu expires on December 28. According to him, some of the sins of the governor was his failure to honour all gentleman agreements entered with him before his election and during his ongoing administration as well as "victimization" of the ex- Oyo State Chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Lateef Akinsola (Tokyo).
Adedibu declared that "Tokyo was among those who helped him to become governor. Ladoja has no fear of God. He charged the man with murder and put the man in Agodi prison for over 29 months. He has no evidence against him but Tokyo has appeared in five different courts. If he wants peace, he! should release the man now."
Speaking further, Adedibu said, " God used us to put him there and He will help us to take him out.I regret making Ladoja the governor, by the special grace of God, if the governor is impeached, he would be replaced with a good man that would be loved by all and sundry in the state.
"Impeachment is the only solution to the crisis. We are going to impeach him whether he likes it or not because we don't want him again. We are tired of him and by the grace of God if Ladoja is impeached today, I am in control.
"We don't want him any longer in Oyo State by the grace of God. I installed him there when people opposed him and by the grace of God he would be booted out by me because he has not performed at all since he became the governor of the state."
On the chances of the PDP in 2007 due to the crisis, Adedibu said that, "it is not the party crisis that is rocking the state, but it is the matter of Ladoja and Adedibu, it is Ladoja that people of Oyo State do not want again and not the PDP.
"I am the politics in Oyo State and I am the issue to discuss by all and sundry. Before the election in Oyo State, I was in control of all the political machinery but when Ladoja won the election with my support and that of my machinery, he withdrew the machinery to himself and refused to give them appointment or to compensate them.This is now the time for me to withdraw all the machinery from him and compensate them and this would be done after we might have impeached the governor from office."
"Senator Ladoja is a very lazy man that cannot do anything and God dislikes a lazy person, because of this Ladoja must be removed for God has approved it. I put him there and he is going to be removed for God himself is a God of judgment and Ladoja’s judgment has come and this will lead to his removal. We don't want him in Oyo State and God himself does not want him in the state", Adedibu insisted.
However, groups and notable individuals of Ibadanland have commenced s! ubterranean moves to stall the impeachment of Oyo State governor, Sena tor Rasidi Ladoja.
This is coming at a time the state’s acting Chief Judge, Justice Afolabi Adeniran, says he has received another letter from loyalists of the governor asking him to discountenance the earlier letter calling on him to raise a seven-man panel to investigate allegations of gross misconduct leveled against the governor.
Eighteen of the 32-member State House of Assembly, backed by the embittered godfather of the governor, Chief Lamidi Adedibu, had commenced an impeachment process against the governor on December 13. To stall Ladoja’s removal from office, Daily Sun learnt that meetings were held at the weekend by groups and town clubs on the implication of the impeachment plot.
The groups were said to have considered the fate of Ibadanland if Deputy Governor Christopher Alao – Akala becomes governor in the event of Ladoja’s removal. They also considered chances of an Ibadanman emerging as governor of the state in the 2007, if Ladoja eventually g! oes.
"I think we have all resolved to make the fight not only Ladoja's fight but also that of entire Ibadanland. We came to the realisation that leaving Ladoja to face his ordeal alone in the hands of his so-called godfather and his party would spell doom for the entire city.
"So, we are fighting on. Whether Ladoja has committed an impeachable offence or not is not the issue now. The issue is the interest of Ibadan as a major stakeholder in the state", the source told Daily Sun.
Interestingly, out of the six local government areas in Ibadan, only one of them has been identifying with Adedibu since the rift between him and Ladoja became public knowledge.
Meanwhile, Justice Adeniran has acknowledged the receipt of a letter from the pro-Ladoja lawmakers in the state, led by the Speaker, Hon. Abraham Adeolu Adeleke, urging him to disregard the letter from pro-Adedibu lawmakers as they have no locus standi to impeach the governor.
In a telephone c! hat Monday, the CJ pledged to look at the two letters carefully before
Wednesday when he would make his decision known. The Chief Judge also debunked the alleged plan to abduct him and force him to constitute the panel that would look into the allegations leveled against the governor, saying he was not aware of such plan.
"I don't know anything about the plan to abduct me. Thank you for your concerns", the CJ said.
In a related development, the embattled Speaker, Hon. Abraham Adeolu Adeleke, has flayed the Oyo State Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Jonathan Johnson, for his disregard for due process before withdrawing his police orderlies on the eve of Thursday's fracas at the House of Assembly complex.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police had explained that he ordered the withdrawal of the police orderlies in view of a letter written to him by the pro-Adedibu lawmakers that the Speaker had been suspended.
But in a three-page press release Monday, the Speaker accused the police chief of acting out a prepared script by f! ailing to cross-check the veracity of the claim of the pro- Adedibu lawmakers either from him or the Clerk of the House before withdrawing his security personnel.
"There is no doubt that the withdrawal of my aides and the security personnel attached to my official quarters was a way of exposing my life and that of my family to danger. This is a flagrant contravention of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as regard the exalted office of a Speaker of a State House of Assembly", the embattled Speaker stated.
