The planned reclamation of the South-West from
the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2015, eminent politicians from the
region met behind closed-doors on Sunday evening, in Ogun State.
Those
who met included former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; former governors of
Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states, Dr Olusegun Agagu, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and
Mr Segun Oni; two former governors of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and
Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, among others
Although
details of the meeting were kept from journalists, Nigerian Tribune gathered
that the meeting, held at the Presidential Library, Abeokuta, was at the
instance of Obasanjo and centred on strategising for the 2015 polls.
It
was learnt that Ladoja and Alao-Akala left Abeokuta for Sagamu at the residence
of former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel, where they also held a
closed-door meeting about the 2015 elections.
Incumbent
Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, Chief Daniel and Senator Ladoja had
been speculated as point men for President Goodluck Jonathan for his second
term bid in 2015.
Ladoja,
Alao-Akala inaugurate committee
Ladoja and Chief Alao-Akala, on Tuesday, inaugurated a joint committee of 14
members.
Members
of the committee, which has one month to turn in its report, included Mr Bayo
Lawal; Alhaji Abubakre Tawakalitu; Mrs Adeola Akintola; Honourable Adeolu
Adeleke; Alhaji Wahab Oyelade; Honourable Ademola Ojo; Mr Yinka Adeniyi.
Others
are Chief Jacob Adetoro; Mrs Kemi Olorunsogo; Mr Wahab Gbadeyero; Dr Nureni
Adeniran; Mr Wale Ohu, Mr Wole Opaleye and Professor Soji Adejumo.
Nigerian
Tribune further gathered that the committee, apart from working on who will
contest for what position in 2015, would also be looking at the platform on
which the permutations of the two leaders would be realised.
A
source in the meeting hinted the Nigerian Tribune that Ladoja informed the
gathering that he pointedly told a meeting of some leaders on Sunday that he
would never join a crumbling house that the PDP had become.
To
ensure victory in the next round of elections, it was scooped that Ladoja had
begun moves to reconcile Alao- Akala with his estranged former deputy and
Nigeria’s Ambassador to Jordan, Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja.
Ladoja
was also quoted to have said the need to bring everyone on board Accord Party
necessitated the postponement of the registration exercise of the party,
scheduled to commence on Tuesday.
Speaking
with newsmen at his residence, shortly after the meeting held behind
closed-doors, Ladoja said the committee had been charged with drawing a working
document to consolidate the synergy between him and Alao-Akala.
Alao-Akala,
while responding to a question on the condemnation by one of his “boys” against
his alliance with Ladoja, described the condemnation as coming from “uninformed
and undisciplined,” saying “I don’t deal with undisciplined people; I don’t
have them around me.”
He
said “with the coming together of the two of us (himself and Ladoja), Ajimobi
will not win a single local government in Oyo State in 2015. If they want to
try our might, let them conduct council election. They dare not.”
Asked
why he vowed not to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and yet teaming up
with Ladoja, who is the national leader of the Accord Party, Alao-Akala said
“when Bola Tinubu was relating with General Muhammadu Buhari, did he quit the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)?
Or did Buhari change his party for the ACN? Do these statements answer your
question?”
Pressed
for comment on what the alliance would produce and whether the team was potent
enough to dislodge Governor Ajimobi in 2015, Alao-Akala said “we shall be there
(at the Government House). Go and calculate. Go and check our antecedents as
core grass roots politicians and you know where we are coming from.
“By
2015, we shall see who is truly the grass-roots politician between us and the
person you are referring to (Governor Ajimobi). They say their politics is hi-tech
politics, but we are grass-roots political practitioners. Anybody can say
anything. But can anybody better the two of us?”
Akinjide
backs reconciliation of Ladoja, Alao-Akala
The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Jumoke Akinjide,
has expressed support for the ongoing rapprochement between Senator Ladoja and
Chief Alao-Alaka, describing the development as “a step in the right
direction.”
Akinjide,
in a statement, said her position had consistently been to encourage the return
of Senator Ladoja, a founding member and former PDP governor to the party.
According
to the statement, “Akinjide’s view is that no one can hijack the party
machinery; rather, every loyal party member must unite to form a cohesive and
inclusive state party executive.”
She
urged the PDP to unite and provide the Oyo State people with a more democratic
and compassionate alternative to the ACN-led state government.
Gang-up
shows Ajimobi is formidable —ACN
The Oyo State chapter of the ACN has said if it needed any other indicator that
the party and Ajimobi’s ratings had risen to a formidable level, it was the
political gang-up of his ex-co-aspirants in the April 2011 elections, who were
former governors of the state.
The
party made this known in a reaction issued by its state publicity secretary, Mr
Dauda Kolawole.
According
to the party, the gang-up had shown the political desperation of the two former
governors and an admission of the fact that, individually, they could not face
Ajimobi and the ACN in the 2015 elections.
“We
are very happy about this gang-up. Wonders indeed can never end. That these two
strange bed fellows, who had, a while ago, fought a titanic battle to destroy
each other, one releasing details of the corruption of the other while in
government and the other telling the world that his successor was crass
illiterate, could come together to fight Ajimobi shows that our governor is now
a mighty Iroko tree that these two gladiators needed to come together to fell.
But, combined, the two cannot measure up,” the ACN said.
The
party said against the thinking of the two former governors, politics in Oyo
State had moved beyond brickbats, hatred, personal animosities and selfish ego
gang-up.
“We
are sorry for them. Our politics is no longer analog but digital. Oyo people
now x-ray issues and take position. The level of governance and government in
our state now is such that the two can no longer fit into them. We have taken
governance beyond the brigandage, amala politics and bloodletting that they
were both renowned for,” it added.
The
party singled out Ladoja, whom it said was confused, stating that only about
three months ago, the former governor praised Ajimobi as performing and
implementing all the programmes he dreamt about, wondering why the same
governor had become a man who should leave office, in his reckoning.
“Ladoja
is not only desperate but confused. A few months ago, he condemned the PDP as a
useless party. He praised Ajimobi to high heavens as a performer but today,
after we sacked his younger brother and nominees from our cabinet, he began to
sing a different tune. And here is a man who spends one month in Nigeria and
three months in the United Kingdom (UK),” the ACN said.
Source: Tribune
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