LADOJA, AKALA: Friends for now Rasheed Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala, who split from each other in a bitter political divorce in 2006 are back again as tag team. Their mission is to ensure that their successor in office, Governor Abiola Ajimobi as governor suffers the same humiliation they bear as one term governor of Oyo State. How time heals wounds. Just a few years ago the two immediate past governors of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala were practically at war with one another. Ladoja who governed the state between 2003 and 2007 with 11 months in the wilderness following an illegal impeachment that was reserved, had gone the length to describe his former deputy and successor as a traitor. Alao-Akala had stepped into Ladoja’s gubernatorial shoes upon the illegal impeachment on January 12, 2006. Though, Akala was not visible in the process, some, however, believed that he masterminded it or was keen that his principal was forced out. Both men had upon the impeachment turned a once cordial relationship into a bitter feud. The enmity and the violence that shadowed the relationship between the two all seem forgotten now as the two men have now teamed up to face a common foe as represented by the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. Former Oyo governors Ladoja and Akala Dominant parties Putting the past behind them, Ladoja, the leader of Accord, one of the three dominant political parties in Oyo State and Akala, former governor and PDP leader in the state have teamed up with the ACN as the common foe. Just few days ago teeming supporters of the two politicians stormed the Bodija residence of Ladoja where the plans to cement the alliance were made. At the end of the two-hour meeting, a 14-man committee was set up to put machinery in motion for the onslaught. The committee members are Barrister Bayo Lawal, Abubakar Tawakalitu, Adeola Akintola, Hon Adeolu Adeleke, Wahab Oyelade, Yinka Adewuyi, Hon Ademola Ojo, Chief JG Adetoro, Mrs. Kemi Olorunsogo, Nureni Adeniran, Mr. Wale Ohu, Professor Soji Adejumo, Mr. Wole Opadeye, Wahab Gbadeyero. Akala boasts: Following the closed door meeting Akala dared the incumbent governor of the state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi to test his popularity by conducting the long delayed local government election. “We are grassroots politicians and our support bases are growing. Can anybody beat the two of us? Let him try to conduct the local government election if he can. He will not win one local government. He cannot win any. Let him conduct it and test his popularity”. Count PDP out of the alliance – Olopoenia Remarkably, the alliance is receiving knocks from some strategic stakeholders especially in the PDP. One prominent stakeholder in the party, Alhaji Rasheed Adebisi aka Olopoenia was quick to distance the party from the Ladoja-Akala accord. “Akala cannot be meeting with Ladoja on behalf of PDP without the briefing and consent of the state party executive members and party leaders in the state. The members of the committee are Akala’s people and not PDP persons,” he said as he enjoined the national leadership to call the former governor to order. It’s a futile exercise –ACN Expectedly, the ACN in the state described the move as an exercise in futility. ACN State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole said the gang-up had shown the political desperation of the two former governors and an admission of the fact that, individually, they cannot face Ajimobi and the ACN in the 2015 elections. “We are very happy about this gang-up. “Wonders indeed can never end. That these two strange bedfellows, who had, a while ago, fought a titanic battle to destroy each other, one releasing details of the corruption of the other while in government and the other telling the world that his successor was crass illiterate, could come together to fight Ajimobi shows that our governor is now a mighty Iroko tree that these two gladiators needed to come together to fell. But, combined, the two cannot measure up,” the ACN said. Though, many supporters of the two politicians on the surface appear to support the move, some nevertheless remain very skeptical of this reunion. For certain, 2015 still remains far away.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 04:59:12 +0000
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