An interest group, Oyo Development Initiative (ODI), has told
former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja to reflect on the alleged
financial pitfalls of his administration, saying that the N6 billion he allegedly
pocketed from the sales of the state shares would have been enough to build at
least two flyover bridges.
ODI, in a statement issued by its Coordinator, Dr. Adesola
Okanlawon, lampooned the former governor over his sustained criticisms of the
recently inaugurated Mokola flyover bridge in Ibadan, stating that it smacks of
destructive politics.
The group wondered what moral justification the former
governor had in criticizing the construction of the flyover bridge when he
squandered the N6 billion shares sales that would have been enough to build at
least two bridges.
``We want to remind the former governor that if he had
committed the N6 billion realized from the sales of Oyo State shares to the
construction of flyover bridges, he would have constructed at least two flyover
bridges, the size of the Mokola bridge.
``If he had done that, flyover construction would have been
the least of Governor Ajimobi’s concerns now and he would have probably channeled
the money used in constructing Mokola flyover bridge to other development
projects yearning for attention,’’ it noted.
ODI called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) to expedite action on Ladoja’s trial before the court so that the alleged
stolen shares money (N6 billion) belonging to Oyo State could be retrieved from
the culprits and used in further developing the state.
It called on former Governor Ladoja to stop his orchestrated
attacks on the Ajimobi administration, saying that when he had the opportunity
of turning the state around, he sacrificed it on the altar of ignorance and
political naivety.
The group said that recent activities of Senator Ladoja had
shown him as a willing tool in the hands of the enemies of the people of Oyo
State who are desirous of plunging the state into confusion and thwarting the
developmental efforts of the Ajimobi administration.
``We have noticed in recent times that anywhere Senator
Ladoja finds himself, both within and outside Oyo State, he revels in launching
verbal diatribes on Governor Ajimobi. Consequently, we want to advise the
former governor to rather concentrate his energy on how to free himself from
the N6 billion fraud charges currently hanging on his neck,’’ it said.
ODI wondered why Ladoja, who had all the opportunity in the
world to make an indelible mark in the development of the state but failed
woefully, had now turned around to become the self-appointed defender of the
same people who suffered neglect as well as emotional and psychological instability
during his reign of terror in the state.
It called on the people of the state to be wary of the antics
of the former governor to return the state to the era of violence and
brigandage which characterized his three-year-one-month reign as the governor
of Oyo State.
