Former special duties minister and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Elder Wole Oyelese, yesterday, in Ibadan said neither Accord Party’s (AP) governorship candidate, Senator Rashidi Ladoja nor Senator Abiola Ajimobi of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was good enough to assume the helm of affairs in the state.
Assessing the two frontline governorship candidates’ morals and stewardship in office as governors, during a chat with newsmen at his Ikolaba, Ibadan residence, Oyelese blamed them for the decline in development witnessed in the state in the past eight years.
He regretted that the two politicians had been going about their campaigns as if there was anything to recommend them in their immediate political past. He said, “Ladoja is out of power and as such, the long arms of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reached out and caught up with him and Akala is having the fun of his life challenging Ladoja to take him to court for branding him as corrupt.
“But pray, does Akala himself have the moral ground on which to stand? It is indeed the case of the pot calling the kettle black.”
On Ajimobi, the former minister said the people of the state could not afford to have a Lagos State annex in Oyo State.
“My concern is for Oyo State, which appeared doomed as the two men mentioned (Alao-Akala and Ladoja) are the front runners in the current race since there is no serious or credible challenge from anywhere else.
“As for the ACN, they can simply forget it as we cannot afford to have a Lagos State government by proxy in Oyo State,” he declared.
Oyelese further explained that his disdain for Alao-Akala was not borne out of the fact that the governor was not from Ibadan. Rather, he said he could not reconcile himself with the idea of a second term for an administration with a record of “pedestrian performance, monumental corruption, hypocrisy, indifference to egalitarianism, a fire brigade approach to issues, decadence of unparalleled proportions and a complete failure to make Oyo State truly excel.”
Alao-Akala’s Special Adviser on Public Communications, Dotun Oyelade, said it was strange that after losing the governorship ticket, Oyelese had not thought it fit to forget the past and help his party to victory at this period.
He said, “we still encourage him to summon the courage and join the victory train. On the other hand, he should let the world know if this pronouncement is preamble to his political game plan.”
The Director-General of Ladoja’s Campaign Organisation, Adeolu Adeleke, in his reaction, said Oyelese needed the sympathy of everybody having failed in his bid to get the governorship ticket of the PDP in the state.
Adeleke recalled that Oyelese had in the past praised the Ladoja administration, therefore, attributing his outburst against the former governor to “anger, disappointment and frustration.”
He advised the former minister to direct his missiles, if he had any, to Alao-Akala who got the PDP ticket as the people of the state were determined to vote overwhelmingly for Ladoja in the coming election.
The spokesman of Ajimobi’s Campaign Organisation, Mr. Yanju Adegbite, in a telephone interview with Daily Sun faulted Oyelese’s claim, saying he was just being mischievous.
Adegbite said Ajimobi only made reference to Lagos State, an ACN-governed state, because of Governor Fashola’s exemplary performance and that, that did not mean Fashola would come and govern Oyo State.
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