Posted by By a Special Correspondent, Additional reports by Ola Ajayi on
The cloud that hovers over Oyo State grows by the day considering the weeks of intrigues, manoeuvring, manipulation, betrayal, shock and wanton destruction of lives and property, especially in Ibadan, the state capital.
The cloud that hovers over Oyo State grows by the day considering the weeks of intrigues, manoeuvring, manipulation, betrayal, shock and wanton destruction of lives and property, especially in Ibadan, the state capital. To many residents of Ibadan, regarded as the political hub of the South-West, the seed of the unfolding political events was sown in the years preceding the 2003 elections in the state due to the fact that the ruling PDP had been enmeshed in crisis since its formation. The crisis, which had been managed since May 2003 till the second anniversary of Governor Rashidi Ladoja administration in May 29, 2005, assumed a frightening dimension with the assassination of Lateef Olaniyan a.k.a. Lati Osogbo and the alleged assassination attempt on Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu in July, 2005.
Since then, several peace efforts initiated at the state and the national levels had failed to yield any positive results as the gulf between a political god-father (Adedibu) and his ‘‘son'' (Ladoja) widened. However, events, last week, revealed that a script akin to the impeachment of ex-governor of Bayelsa state, Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha, may have been adopted by forces bent on removing Ladoja as the governor of Oyo State. Last Wednesday's secret inauguration of a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations levelled against Ladoja by the acting chief judge, Justice Afolabi Adeniran, political observers believe, may have set the final stage to end the two and a half years reign of the governor.
GENESIS OF THE CRISIS
The PDP in Oyo State has known no peace since the exit of the first state chairman of the party and later Minister of the State for Communications, the late Alhaji Adekunle Haruna Elewi. The appointment of Elewi as minister polarised the party along the Alhaji Yekini Adeojo faction and Adedibu/Ladoja's faction. It took the intervention of the then Audu Ogbeh - led national leadership of the party before an acceptable state executive council could be inaugurated for the party in Oyo State. In actual fact, no election was conducted for the state executive council.
What the national executive committee of the party did was to harmonise the lists of the two factions by allocating slots to be filled by the two groups. It was this "unholy alliance" that produced Ladoja as the PDP flag-bearer for the 2003 gubernatorial election which the party eventually won. Some governorship aspirants, notably Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, Senator Kola Balogun and Senator Yemi Brimo Yusuf complained bitterly over what they described as gross violation of the party's guidelines for the conduct of the primaries where Ladoja emerged as the PDP candidate.
The blame for the alleged violation of the party's guidelines and provisions was put at the door step of Adedibu. But despite this open condemnation of the party's primaries, neither the national executive of the party nor the state executive saw anything wrong in the exercise. This was the situation when the general elections were conducted and Ladoja emerged as the governor of the state. However, the relationship between Ladoja and Adedibu, collapsed like a pack of cards after the inauguration of Ladoja as the governor of the state over the appointment of commissioners.
Adedibu was alleged to have forwarded eleven names out of fifteen commissioners expected to be appointed for the state. Ladoja politely turned down the list and persuaded the Ibadan politician to go and rest in London after a hectic campaign that preceded the election. Before the return of Adedibu from his overseas holiday, the governor had constituted his state executive council with Lekan Latinwo as the only known Adedibu's boy in the cabinet. Since then, the relationship between Ladoja and Adedibu has been one of cat and mouse. The sour relationship however blew open when the ‘‘Molete'' warlord personally complained to members of the state House of Assembly, led by its first speaker, Honourable Olawale Moruf Atilola, that a governor whom had God used him to install had been marginalising him in the scheme of things in the state. Few weeks after, a leadership tussle erupted at the state House of Assembly that resulted in some principal officials including the Speaker losing their seats and saw the election of Honourable Milkhail Azeez Alarape as new Speaker. Alarape was in the saddle for sixteen months after which he was unceremoniously impeached and Honourable Abraham Adeolu Adeleke was installed. Since the assumption of office of Adeleke, absolute discord has been the lot of the House.
Two conspicuous factions in the legislative arm led by Ladoja and Adedibu struggled to control the Parliament. The situation in the House was so chaotic to the extent that the symbol of the House -- The Mace - had to be kept with the state police commissioner. For three months, the lawmakers could not put their House in order and as such could not sit. Political observers in the state were already expressing fears and apprehension that the legislators may lose their seats following their inability to sit as demanded by the constitution. According to them, the legislators had only sat for 52 days out of 181 days expected of them by the constitution. And as part of desperate move not to lose their seats, as well as acting the script of their sponsors, the two factions in the House commenced series of secret and open sittings both within the Assembly Complex and outside.
OPPONENTS OF LADOJA IN THE STATE
While the crisis of confidence between Ladoja and his estranged god-father rage on, notable indigenes of the state, including traditional rulers and political leaders, started pitching their tents with either of the factions. Political observers are of the view that the leadership style of Ladoja, which they believe is too independent -- minded to the established individuals and institutions in the state, saw many of those leaders supporting Adedibu against him. In actual fact, there is a consensus opinion in the state that the governor is fighting too many battles at a time in a desperate bid to satisfy the yearnings of the electorate and put an end to the popular syndrome of business as usual.
MUSLIM BOARD
Ladoja, in trying to show to the doubting Thomases that he is a man of his own, first of all, incurred the wrath of some Muslim leaders in Ibadan over the appointment of the chairman and members of the State Pilgrims Welfare Board. Information pieced together in Ibadan indicated that a prominent Ibadan Muslim leader (name withheld) had in the last twenty years single-handedly nominated and appointed members of the State Pilgrims Board (Muslim wing) and Ladoja summarily changed the situation by nominating the chairman and members of the committee without recourse to the prominent Islamic leader.
COUNCIL OF OBAS AND CHIEFS
Apart from the crisis occasioned by the unilateral appointment of the chairman of the Pilgrims Welfare Board, Ladoja also stirred the hornet's nest by dabbling into the ever complex traditional institution in the state. Since 2004, he has dissolved the state council of Obas, preferring to deal directly with Obas and chiefs in their domains and this did not go down well with Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi Adeyemi, traditional sources hinted, saw the action as an attempt to reduce his influence and weaken his authority over Obas in the state. Apart from that, Ladoja set up a committee to reposition the council of Obas in the state. The committee was said to have recommended four options on how to handle issues affecting traditional issues in the state. But to the surprise of the paramount rulers in the state, the embattled governor is proposing the establishment of zonal traditional councils as well as the rotation of the chairmanship position of the council of Obas in the state. The Alaafin has gone to court to challenge the proposed zonal arrangement.
TRANS INTERNATIONAL BANK CRISIS
A major shareholder in Trans International Bank, TIB, jointly owned by Oyo and Osun states, Alhaji Adebayo Adetunji, is another person, whose toes, political observers believe, Ladoja had stepped on in the course of administering the state. Whether rightly or wrongly, Adetunji believes that Ladoja contributed in no small way to the comatose state of the bank. The duo were said to have disagreed over which banks TIB should merge with under the consolidation of banks directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. It was widely reported that the major shareholder preferred TIB to merge with Co-operative Bank / Omega Bank while the governor and his Osun State counterpart preferred TIB to merge with Wema / National Bank. It was this disagreement that forced the two state governments to withdraw their deposit from TIB which eventually culminated in the precarious situation of the bank.
OLUNLOYO / ISHOLA DIMENSION
Ladoja was said to have incurred the wrath of Dr. Omololu Olunloyo and Chief Kolapo Ishola, both former governors of Oyo State, by excluding their nominees to the boards of parastatals in the state. One of the PDP leaders in the state who preferred anonymity alleged that the governor had excluded fifteen of them from the scheme of things in the state. So, none of them would support him. Said he: "All of us are not happy with the way Adedibu is going about his demands, but Ladoja believes that he alone can handle Adedibu. We are waiting to see how far he can go. We have succeeded in the past to put Adedibu where he rightly belonged when we formed Ibadan / Ibarapa Movement under the late Architect Layi Balogun. We can do it again if Ladoja can give us our dues and respect. No single man can fight Adedibu and win. It must be a collective effort".
Other political leaders who feel aggrieved and cheated by Ladoja administration include Senator Yusuff from Ogbomoso, Senator Lekan Balogun, Elder Wole Oyelese, Chief Yekini Adeojo and Chief Femi Lanleyin. They have pitched their tent with Adedibu their desperate move to force Ladoja to submission. It must be noted, however, that since the latest bloody and round of violent clashes in the state, Olunloyo has dissociated himself from any ploy to impeach the governor and, in fact, sources close to the Government House indicated that he has been playing an elderly and mediatory role to see that the situation did not go out of hand.
The Presidency connection
This is another factor in the crisis. Ladoja is believed to be Atiku's boy. Despite persistent denials by Senator Ladoja that he's not the co-ordinator of Atiku in the South-West, close associates of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the hawks in the Presidency believed that Ladoja is stubbornly close to Atiku to the extent that there's no way they can detach him except to force him to toe their line. Consistently, political observers believe that the Presidency is backing Adedibu to cause crisis in the state as part of the move to teach Ladoja a lesson for his loyalty to Atiku. Obasanjo's open praises for Adedibu has further confirmed the opinion that the Presidency is behind the impeachment plot.
The role of the police in providing cover for the hoodlums that attacked the governor's office recently and vandalised property worth N450m without any arrest fuelled allegation of bias against the police in the crisis. One of the leaders in the state said, "How can the Federal Government or the Inspector General of Police claim ignorance of the police role in the whole crisis?"
FOUR DIMENSIONS TO THE CRISIS
While the two and a half years old crisis lingers, several ad-hoc peace committees constituted have come out with what has been described as the four dimensional angles to the crisis. According to source, the first angle is that of wife of the embattled governor; second, the governor himself; third, Adedibu and fourth, is the Presidency.
SUPPORTERS OF LADOJA
The Olubadan of Ibadan land and his high chiefs
have shown support for Ladoja's administration to the extent that the Olubadan sent a powerful delegation led by High Chief Lana to pay a solidarity visit to Ladoja in his office. The Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) led by Chief Bode Amoo and other prominent sons of Ibadan land such as High Chief Omowale Kuye, Dr. Lekan Are have been running helter-skelter to ensure that peace returns to the state. Traditional rulers from Oke-Ogun have also visited the governor to show their solidarity to him.
WHY LADOJA LOST CONTROL OF THE STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.
There are conflicting reports from both the lawmakers and the state government on why Ladoja lost control of the House. Initially, twenty-three members of the House including the principal officers were supporters of the governor but the legislators were said to have deserted Ladoja following his alleged inability to meet their monetary demand. Some principal officers of the government alleged that before the current impasse, each of the legislators was collecting a monthly stipend of N500,000 and N12m as constituency allowances. The half a million naira for each of the lawmakers is generally referred to as Five Alive.
While none of the legislators was ready to deny or confirm the alleged allowances, they pleaded with the governor to stop treating them as councillors. Instead, they asked that they be treated like their counterparts in the neighbouring states whom they said were comfortable.
HOW THE BUBBLE BURST
A principal officer of the PDP at the national level, said to be a political foe of Ladoja, was alleged to have, last Wednesday, held a secret meeting with Adedibu. Thereafter, they moved their machinery to the state judiciary where they succeeded in persuading the acting CJ to set up a seven-man panel to look into the allegations against the governor. Information gathered indicated that the news of the inauguration of the panel was leaked to the press by a prominent politician in Ibadan while the swearing in the panelists was done in secrecy. The embattled governor who, last Tuesday, at the yearly prayer meeting, said that nobody could impeach him, remarked that the acting CJ was pressurised and coerced to constitute the panel.
Ladoja said he had warned the CJ not to support illegality and unconstitutional acts. The speaker of the House of Assembly, recently to the purported establishment of a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations against the governor, pleaded with other state governors in the country to rise up and defend democracy by disallowing hoodlums from hijacking the government of Oyo State. According to Honourable Adeleke, "it is the turn of Ladoja today, who knows it may be the turn of other governors tomorrow. We must all rise up to save democracy which some people have shed their blood to attain."
THE ROLE OF THE JUDICIARY
There is so much apprehension on the complex nature of the legal aspect of the crisis. Mr. Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), representing the governor's loyalists, had remarked, during the court proceeding to stop the acting CJ from inaugurating the impeachment panel on Ladoja, that "the whole case is being rushed. It is an indication that we have been boxed into a corner to which we would not agree". He then indicated his intention to file an appeal against the court judgement but was nullified on the grounds that it came too late. The embattled speaker, Honourable Adeleke, also said "the composition of the panel by the CJ in spite of the fact that two different lawsuits are still pending in court on the matter as well as an exparte order restraining the CJ from constituting the panel has put a big question mark on the judiciary in the crisis".
Ogbomoso /deputy governor connection
The outcome of the on-going political crisis in the state, according to political watchers, will, to a great extent, determine alignment and realignment of political forces in the state as well as towns and villages that would be considered for political offices in the future. Already, political watchers are beginning to draw comparison between the former premier of the Western Region, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his deputy then, the late Chief S.L.A. Akintola, an Ogbomoso man. The current deputy governor and the acting CJ are both from Ogbomoso with allegations and counter allegations of Ogbomoso connection to get rid of Ladoja by all means. To them, picking an Ogbomoso man in the future as the number two to the governor of the state may be Herculean task as people may be forced to make a judgmental conclusion that "If you pick an Ogbomoso man as your deputy, you may not end your tenure."
CONCLUSION
If the forces succeed in impeaching Ladoja, it will further confirm the jinx that "the real son of Ibadan" who is governor never ends his tenure. Ishola is the first Ibadan real son to rule the state but his tenure was cut short after 23 months by the military in 1993. Ladoja would become the second real son of Ibadan whose term of office would be truncated if the impeachment sails through. This is the reason some Ibadan indigenes are against the impeachment plot. Timely intervention remains the only antidote to stop the impeachment as the governor possesses the constitutional and leadership role to call the bluff of Adedibu and his co-travellers in the impeachment plot.