Ladoja Is Done – So What?

“A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.” Seneca (Roman philosopher)

Much ado about nothing: that sums up the whole story of political rascality, stupidity and arrant nonsense that went on in Oyo state for the past year. The ‘nothing’ definitely is not the loot-of-state that Adedibu and Ladoja were fighting over; the nothing of course in the whole matter was why Ladoja and his supporters (including some good old journalist) were crying wolf. He cried wolf over an after party gone bad, and he expected us to feel sorry for him? Not me and my generation – we have seen enough food fights at the assembly house in Ibadan since the days of Akintola enough to be immune to such sacrileges. Indeed, it is too early to write off Ladoja, any right thinking person knows the impeachment was not proper: it is left for the slow moving courts to decide however. But politically, Ladoja is dead!

I was born in Ibadan and I understand the rudimentary politics of that state. Since the days of penkelemes to the days of the Cicero of Esa Oke till this day, no Governor in Oyo state ever gets thank you for any task no matter how major. If you want to feel gratified for serving in the immaculate white government house at Agodi, my advice is to look to another place to implement your plan. Politics is dangerous and dirty, but the politics of Ibadan is filled with treachery, back-stabbing and blood. In Oyo state there are no permanent friends, just permanent interests; and no one best immortalize the most selfish interests than the man (some call him the oracle) at Molete.

The story of Ladoja however is very pathetic in every respect. On one hand, it exposes the evils of the ruling party on the other the moral depravity of our society. A party that was once best described as a carnival of some sort, a carnival of thieves and fake political peddlers. What PDP peddles is bad governance and lack of respect for the rule of law. Bad manners makes you king in PDP, in fact it can earn you a position in the board of trustees. It is a lack of respect for the rule of law that resulted in a much rigged state election that trumped up the likes of Ladoja. Don’t get me wrong: Ladoja will still have won Lam Adesina in 2003 in a fair and square election, but Adedibu still needed to deploy the boys and so wanted a share of the loot when the kill was over!

It was a lack of respect for the rule of law that made Ladoja turn himself to some kind of emperor that cherry picks the election tribunal judgment he will obey. This was a governor that refused to swear in an opposition council chairman simply because he could get away with it. Now when the table is turned, it was very laughable to see the same godfather that probably encouraged his intransigence then using the same judiciary to hunt him down. What of the clowns that called themselves the bar association? Pure idiots! Where were they when Obasanjo was disrespecting the courts? Where was the NBA when Ladoja was disobeying court orders? Now they want the Chief Judge the chief jurist himself to respect the court they so willfully soiled by aiding and abetting the actions of the executive at all levels? Sentiments aside, the Governor need not be afraid of impeachment if he committed no impeachable offences – one of those was clear, his failure to swear in a duly elected chairman.

The crisis in Oyo state was beyond the godfather versus godson relationship that so many people wanted to reduce it to. That is why, when the impeachment came up, it was simply bound to go through. If Ladoja was the man he claimed to be, how come he never had the full support of his own deputy governor? The man took few minutes to get sworn in! In Anambra state, even without the support of the most powerful party in Africa and the almighty presidency, Governor Ngigie remains the governor of the state. Remember his state assembly impeached his deputy for him? The reason being, Ngigie sided with the people. Ladoja only remembered the people of Oyo state when he got in trouble. What has he to show for two and a half years of waste?

Undeniably, the greatest show of shame was not even the ex-governor or his illiterate godfather (a man who will soon dance naked in the marketplace). The monumental shame of the political drama was the king of Aso Rock. From the horse riding episode at Otta to his last minute visit to Ibadan (as if he was an harbinger of evil), baba Iyabo has once again revealed that he will rather play politics with the life of Nigerians, instead of being a statesman. Any political ally of the president that trusts this guy today is definitely a fool. Obasanjo has no allegiances, his only allegiance is to power at all cost. I stand to be corrected. This episode is an indictment of all the characters involved, exempt none.