The Oyo State chapter of All Progressives Congress,
APC, on Friday in Ibadan, the state capital, asked the
former Governor of the state and gubernatorial
candidate of Accord Party in next month’s general
elections, Senator Rashidi Ladoja to “tender an
unreserved apology to the people and hurriedly return
the remaining money and all the government properties
in his possession”.
The call came on the heels of the controversies
surrounding the alleged refund of over N500million to
the coffers of Oyo State Government by the former
governor through the Economic and Financial Crimes
and Commission (EFCC) following plea bargaining.
Few days ago, Governor Abiola Ajimobi had claimed
that the Oyo State Government had received
N500million from the former governor as part of a plea
bargain deal he entered into with the EFCC over the on-
going corruption litigation, which has been said to be
threatening his governorship ambition but Ladoja
fought back, demanding a retraction and unreserved
apology from the governor. He subsequently instructed
his lawyer to institute a N1billion libel suit against the
governor.
But the APC, in a statement issued by its Director of
Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, described
Ladoja as “a shameless jester in the field of politics
who was only trying to hang on to the remnants of his
political war chest to enable him get more patronage
from Dr. Goodluck Jonathan having entered into an
agreement with the President’s wife, Dame Patience
Jonathan, to mobilize his Accord Party members in
support of the PDP in the February 28, 2015 elections”.
The statement read in part: “From legal, moral and
ethical perspectives, Sen. Rashidi Ladoja has
established himself as unfit to govern Oyo State again.
It will go down in the history of this nation that a
voracious character like him once threw shame into the
wind and tried to hold the people of the state into
ransom for finding him unworthy of their trust.
“With admittance of guilt by employing plea bargaining
option over a corruption case against him, Ladoja
stands unqualified to seek the people’s mandate. With
his latest pranks in the mode of playing the Ostrich
after he had forced the state government to make
public the damning evidences of his plea bargaining
deal, he has a moral burden on his neck and by seeking
to denigrate our traditional institution at all times, he
has failed a simple challenge of ethics.
“So, no interpreter is needed to explain to Ladoja the
reason behind his rapidly declining support from the
people. In his personal pictures on campaign posters;
people see exhaustion, covetousness and
hopelessness. In his jingles on the airwaves, people
perceive grand delusion and folly as well as abuse of
Yoruba language. More so, he nailed the coffin of his
party recently when he submitted names of ghost
members as candidates in the coming elections.
“However, there are some options for self-redemption
before the former governor if he cares to know; he can
do well by tendering an unreserved apology to the
people of the state over his numerous betrayal of their
trust. He should endeavour to return all the public
monies and properties he looted while in government.
And lastly, he should withdraw from politics and attend
to long abandoned issues of concern in his family and
private businesses”.
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