|
Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A former governor of Oyo State and Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has said he does not have any issue with the new governor of the state, Seyi Makinde, whom he supported to victory.
He spoke against the backdrop of insinuation that his absence during the inauguration of Makinde as governor on Wednesday signalled a possible fight between the two gladiators. In a statement issued by his media aide, Alhaji Lanre Latinwo on Thursday, Ladoja said he could not attend the inauguration because it coincided with the fifth remembrance of the death of his son, Debola Ladoja, who died on May 29, 2014. Ladoja led the coalition of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and a percentage of Action Democratic Party (ADP) as well as People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that produced the governor.
The statement read in part: “The death of the 31-year-old Debola Ladoja, a promising son of the former governor of Oyo State exactly five years on May 29, 2019, was responsible for the absence of the Ibadan High Chief, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja at yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) swearing in ceremony of Engineer Oluseyi Makinde as the governor of the state.
“Debola was working in a financial organisation before he met his untimely death in the early hours of May 29, 2014.
“The former governor kept the reason to himself in order not to dampen the high spirit of the people around him. This fact was also hidden from the governor himself out of respect for the occasion and what it meant to the people of the state, when he visited High Chief Ladoja where he stayed up till the time of breaking of the day’s fast.” |