The ongoing battle of wit over the Mokola flyover bridge between Senator Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo state and one of his predecessor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja Continues as Sen. Ajimobi of on Friday came hard on a former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, saying that his (Ladoja’s) claim of conceiving the Mokola flyover bridge during his administration was farther from the truth.
Rather, he said that the recommendation for the construction of the flyover bridge, which his administration constructed and inaugurated recently, had been made as far as back as 1976 by the Committee on the Ibadan Traffic Problems.
The governor said that the committee, headed by Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, a former governor of the state, had recommended the construction of flyover bridges in seven different areas within the Ibadan metropolis.
The areas included Mokola, Secretariat, Challenge, Molete, Iwo Road, Dugbe and Adamasingba.
Aside the Molete flyover bridge constructed by the Gen. David Jemibewon military regime in 1976, no other flyover bridge had been constructed by any civilian administration in the state until the one built at Mokola by the Ajimobi administration.
Governor Ajimobi warned Ladoja to stop peddling lies and falsehood in his desperation to score cheap political point and gain undue advantage and popularity.
``Even if Senator Ladoja had conceived and dreamt of building the Mokola flyover bridge when he was the governor, why did he fail to actualize his dream? Now that our administration has been able to construct the flyover, why is Ladoja calling for our heads? Why is he so desperate to pull down our government?,’’ he queried.
The governor also berated some members of Accord Party in the state, accusing them of playing pedestrian politics, all in the name of promoting their boss.
``Most of them are mercenary politicians; they are very Machiavellian in their approach to politics; they should have shame; they should have principle; they are people who just go about to get what they want by all means.
``I want to advise our people not to play such game; our own is intellectual and development politics, not pedestrian politics as being played by Ladoja and his cohorts,’’ he said.
The leaders of the group, in their separate remarks, said they took the decision to champion the course of Ajimobi owing to his brilliant performance, describing the governor as a man of integrity, trustworthy and reliable.
``Ibadan and indeed, the entire Oyo State has changed for better. We now have clean environment, free vehicular movement, while on daily basis, developmental projects are springing up in all the nooks and crannies of the state. Governor Ajimobi is really an actualizer and not a mere dreamer,’’ Dr. Morounkola Thomas, the immediate past State Director of Publicity of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said.
