The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has lambasted former
Governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, over his renewed diatribes
against Governor Abiola Ajimobi, describing him as a prisoner of his inordinate
ambition to come back as governor in 2015.
The party, in a statement issued in Ibadan on Tuesday by its
state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kolawole said the former governor had
allowed his ambition to becloud his sense of reasoning, thus making him stand
the truth on its head in a desperate attempt to pull down the house.
Ladoja had on an Ibadan radio programme, text of which was reported
in the media, leveled several allegations against Ajimobi, boasting to team up
with ``a group of like-minded politicians’’ to vote out the governor in 2015.
But the ACN, while congratulating Ladoja on his journey to
self-destruct, said that it would be waiting for the former governor and his
so-called group of like-minded politicians on the field, assuring that they would
meet their waterloo.
``It is unthinkable that Ladoja, whose reign, alongside his
erstwhile deputy, Adebayo Alao-Akala, was characterized by violence and
brigandage, and who virtually set Oyo State ablaze with his and his co-travelers’
guns and cudgel-wielding lieutenants and bootlickers, will think in his wildest
imagination to stage a comeback to power.
``It is also absurd that someone who, in a saner society,
should bury his head in shame for taking the people of Oyo State for a ride and
for taking the state far backward on the path of development, would now assume
the position of a messiah, speaking on behalf of the same people. In saner societies,
Ladoja, who has been dragged to court for stealing over N5billion of our state
money would be too busy explaining his roles in the theft of our patrimony,’’
it said.
The party, while stating that it was not disappointed with Ladoja’s
attack, added that he could not have said otherwise, ``as he used all the
almost four years he spent as governor to dream of all the developmental
projects that Ajimobi is now executing’’.
While reminding that nobody celebrates a dream but an
actualizer which Ajimobi is, ACN said that only like-minded dreamers like
Ladoja would team up with him to launch senseless attacks on the Ajimobi
government and choose to close their eyes to the modern Oyo State which he
(Ajimobi) has created.
``As the people of Oyo State are rejoicing over the ambience
of peace created by Ajimobi and the developmental strides of his
administration, Ladoja and his cohorts should continue in their self-destruct
mission. Let them be assured that they will meet their waterloo on the field of
contest in 2015,’’.
The party also put on record that while the Ajimobi
government had built markets and was still building more for the traders
removed from the streets, Ladoja never built a single market for those traders
he displaced during his reign of terror on the people of the state.
ACN also emphasized that the former governor had exhibited
his lack of depth in his approach to issues that require intellect,
particularly on the newly-constructed Mokola flyover bridge, describing his
argument over the bridge as not only warped but grossly illogical.
“How can a person in this century claim that a fly-over is
substandard simply because it has a barrier on it? In Lagos, there are at least
five bridges with barriers on them, including recently constructed Millennium
Bridge. It shows the quality of the man who administered this state and why Oyo
was where the ACN took delivery of it in 2011,” the ACN said.
