Ladoja slams Obasanjo over 2005 impeachment narrative

•Says OBJ’s Past Hunting Him

Former Governor Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo State yesterday chided former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his statement on how he was impeached as Governor in 2005.

It would be recalled that Chief Obasanjo, while speaking at the launch of autobiography of former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, had said that Ladoja was impeached because he was not able to reconcile with Chief Lamidi Adedibu and Yekini Adeojo.

Reacting, Ladoja described the narrative as a lie, saying the former president was being economical with the truth.

Ladoja’s Media aide, Alhaji Bashir Lanre Latinwo noted with dismay that Obasanjo could slope to an unprecedented level of a fabricator by telling lies against the Ibadan High Chief.

Latinwo stated that Obasanjo’s assertion while speaking as Chairman at the launch of Chief Christopher Alao-Akala’s book was an absolute disregard for truth when the former President said, among others, that Senator Ladoja paid dearly for not accommodating late political leader Chief Adedibu and Alhaji Yekini Adeojo.

Recalling that the impeachment of his boss was a ‘kangaroo’ arrangement by Obasanjo and his stooge, Latinwo chastised the former President for arguing that it was his (Obasanjo) failed third term programme that caused the unsuccessful impeachment.

Latinwo said: “The former President had 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 anymore. If not, why should he say that Ladoja became Governor in 2003 through the grace of God, Baba Adedibu and Alhaji Adeojo when the latter 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?

“Chief Obasanjo, in trying to rewrite history, has forgotten that he told Baba Emmanuel Alayande in Ibadan on his birthday in December, 2005 that Senator Ladoja should resign his position as Governor, otherwise he would be impeached?

“And, true to his boasts, the illegal act was carried out few days later, but thank God the impropriety was quashed by the Court of highest jurisdiction. Let Chief Obasanjo be told, point blank, that no amount of damage control employed, his past is closely hunting him. Ladoja therefore has no regret; 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.”