The Oyo State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, on Friday in Ibadan, the state capital, asked the former Governor of the state and gubernatorial candidate of Accord Party in next month’s general elections, Senator Rashidi Ladoja to “tender an unreserved apology to the people and hurriedly return the remaining money and all the government properties in his possession”.
The call came on the heels of the controversies surrounding the alleged refund of over N500million to the coffers of Oyo State Government by the former governor through the Economic and Financial Crimes and Commission (EFCC) following plea bargaining.
Few days ago, Governor Abiola Ajimobi had claimed that the Oyo State Government had received N500million from the former governor as part of a plea bargain deal he entered into with the EFCC over the on-going corruption litigation, which has been said to be threatening his governorship ambition but Ladoja fought back, demanding a retraction and unreserved apology from the governor. He subsequently instructed his lawyer to institute a N1billion libel suit against the governor.
But the APC, in a statement issued by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, described Ladoja as “a shameless jester in the field of politics who was only trying to hang on to the remnants of his political war chest to enable him get more patronage from Dr. Goodluck Jonathan having entered into an agreement with the President’s wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, to mobilize his Accord Party members in support of the PDP in the February 28, 2015 elections”.
The statement read in part: “From legal, moral and ethical perspectives, Sen. Rashidi Ladoja has established himself as unfit to govern Oyo State again. It will go down in the history of this nation that a voracious character like him once threw shame into the wind and tried to hold the people of the state into ransom for finding him unworthy of their trust.
“With admittance of guilt by employing plea bargaining option over a corruption case against him, Ladoja stands unqualified to seek the people’s mandate. With his latest pranks in the mode of playing the Ostrich after he had forced the state government to make public the damning evidences of his plea bargaining deal, he has a moral burden on his neck and by seeking to denigrate our traditional institution at all times, he has failed a simple challenge of ethics.
“So, no interpreter is needed to explain to Ladoja the reason behind his rapidly declining support from the people. In his personal pictures on campaign posters; people see exhaustion, covetousness and hopelessness. In his jingles on the airwaves, people perceive grand delusion and folly as well as abuse of Yoruba language. More so, he nailed the coffin of his party recently when he submitted names of ghost members as candidates in the coming elections.
“However, there are some options for self-redemption before the former governor if he cares to know; he can do well by tendering an unreserved apology to the people of the state over his numerous betrayal of their trust. He should endeavour to return all the public monies and properties he looted while in government. And lastly, he should withdraw from politics and attend to long abandoned issues of concern in his family and private businesses”.