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FORMER governor of Kaduna State and Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, has faulted the manner in which Senator Rashidi Ladoja was removed as Oyo State Governor, even as he alerted that five more governors may go the same way, before the end of February.
FORMER governor of Kaduna State and Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, has faulted the manner in which Senator Rashidi Ladoja was removed as Oyo State Governor, even as he alerted that five more governors may go the same way, before the end of February.
Balarabe, in a telephone interview with Sunday Vanguard, noted that the impeachment of Ladoja and the proposed five others was geared towards actualising the third term plot of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
'It is clear that President Obasanjo wants to intimidate as many governors as possible so that he can have them do his bidding. Of course, most of these governors control the states assembly and once the legislature is in the pocket of governors and every one else in the pocket of the presidency, then gathering the two third to the amendment of the constitution for a third term is no more difficult.
'See the case of Ladoja, I am not saying that he may not have committed some impeachable offences, but due process was not followed. The panel of seven looked at the allegations, and submitted its report, the governor was not given any chance to defend himself, and they just hurriedly removed him. This is unfair," Balarabe, who was himself removed in the second republic as governor, stated.
He added, 'I can tell you that five more governors are to go in this same shoddy manner that Alamieyeseigha and Ladoja have gone, just to satisfy the selfish interest of the President."
Though the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) chieftain said he would not speak in detail on the identity of the governors and how they are to be removed, he said they are all in the PDP.
Balarabe also said they are to be handed over to the EFCC after they would have been humiliated. 'They do not have to be actually corrupt, their sins would have been that they had the guts to refuse to go the president's way." he pointed out.
The former governor said unless something fast was done to halt the 'excesses" of Obasanjo, the country may never recover from its effect.
He said the CNPP was against any attempt to amend the constitution, presently, because it would be exploited for selfish interest. For him, deferring an amendment to the constitution till 2007 would be in the best interest of the country. The coalition of parties, he, nevertheless, maintained, would not boycott the public hearing on the issue.