Top Line

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Ladoja’s alleged N6b shares sale would build two flyovers - Group




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.