Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, on Friday, described the statement credited to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, exonerating himself from his iimpeachment in 2005, as a lie.
Ladoja, who spoke through his media aide, Lanre Latinwo, said the statement credited to Obasanjo was an attempt to rewrite.
Obasanjo had on Thursday when he chaired a book launch in honour of a former governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan, said Ladoja ordeals stemmed from his inability to manage the duo of the late strongman of Ibadan politics, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, and a political juggernaut , Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, who helped him to become governor in 2003.
Obasanjo said when the trouble, which led to Ladoja’s impeachment, started brewing, he called Ladoja with a view to reconciling the trio, saying Ladoja said they were all Ibadan people and they would deal with themselves. They, he said, dealt with themselves and Ladoja came outthe worse of it.
Ladoja was impeached as the Oyo State governor in 2005, leaving his deputy, Alao-Akala, to take over as governor, until he was reinstated by Supreme Court, after 11 months out of government.
But in a statement issued by his media aide, Alhaji Lanre Latinwo, he said: “The former president has forgotten that the nation’s apex court had ruled that there was no impeachment. Obasanjo can be forgiven because he is an old man, who may not recollect the past accurately.
“If not, why should he say that Ladoja became governor in 2003 through the grace of God, Chief Adedibu and Alhaji Adeojo when Adeojo also attempted to become governor?
“Did Obasanjo forget that Adeojo contested the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election, which was held on December 24, 2002 at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan? Let Chief Obasanjo be told, point blank, that no amount of damage control would help him.
“Ladoja, therefore, has no regrets. He came to serve and he did just that to the best of his ability, the result of which is the love his people have for him till date.”