How Ladoja, Adedibu tear
Oyo drivers apart
By FEMI ADEOTI [[email protected]]
Sunday, July 25, 2004
ONE of the biggest casualties of the protracted face-off
between Governor Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja of Oyo State and his
estranged godfather, Chief Lamidi Ariyibi Adedibu is the state
council of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
The unending fued between the two Ibadan former political
soulmates has polarised members of the union into two bitter
rival groups.
One group is led by the current chairman, Alhaji Wasiu Abubakar
a.k.a. Tawa. His election is, however, being hotly contested
by the immediate past chairman, Alhaji Lateef Akinsola a.k.a.
Tokyo, who leads the other group.
By far the real beneficiary of the Ladoja-Adedibu criris is
the Tawa group, purpoted to be enjoying the support of the
state government. The Tokyo faction whose members are alleging
victimisation by security agencies are believed to have the
backing of Adedibu.
The leader of the group, Akinsola, is now cooling his nerves
at Agodi Prison, Ibadan. His supporters see his detention
as political and a ploy to give his rival an undue advantage
and a breathing space.
The drivers’ crisis allegedly reared its ugly head at
the Abuja peace meeting brokered by the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) between Adedibu and Ladoja.
Background
Shortly before the April 2003 general elections, a meeting
was held with Tokyo at the instance of Ladoja. He was then
the PDP governorship candidate. At the meeting, Tokyo and
his men allegedly agreed to work for Ladoja.
To demonstrate his commitment, Ladoja requested Tokyo to attend
a PDP rally at Mapo where President Olusegun Obasanjo would
be present. Tokyo reportedly declined to “attend the
rally because of Alhaji Lam Adesina” who was then governor.
It was gathered that this did not go down well with Ladoja,
even though Tokyo did send representatives to the rally. To
make up for this, he obliged the PDP to hold a rally at the
Olomi, Ibadan, secretariat of the union. The rally was widely
reported by the media in the state.
This apparently angered Adesina: “Tokyo told him that
the Alliance for Democracy (AD) too could do the same. They
did and it was equally widely reported,” Tajudeen Adebayo,
a member of Tokyo faction told Sunday Sun.
Tokyo and Tawa later entered into a mutual agreement when
the election was drawing nearer. Tawa was to identify with
the PDP while Tokyo would do the same for the AD. The idea
then was that they would not loose out completely after the
election when they planned to review the agreement in view
of the situation.
Crisis
Trouble, however, started brewing after Ladoja won the election
and Tawa allegedly refused to keep to the pact. Instead of
agreeing to review the pact, Tawa allegedly took effective
charge of the union and declined to attend any meeting with
Tokyo.
The situation got to a head when the two leaders nearly exchanged
blows at a meeting with Ladoja at the governor’s office.
They later met and agreed that there would be no election
but that the posts would be shared. Tawa reportedly conceeded
seven out of the 15 posts to the Tokyo camp.
Somehow, the pact collapsed like the one before it. When the
10-day ultimatum given by the national headquarters of NURTW
in Abuja expired, both gladiators were banned from contesting
any election of the union.
Court intervention
The Tokyo camp suspected complicity involving the state government
and that the union’s national headquarters in Abuja
was supporting Tawa. He then went to court to challenge his
ban and to maintain the status quo. His application was granted
on October 14, 2003 when the court ruled that there should
be no election and no dissolution of any of the unit executives
until the determination of the suit.
Police intervention
To stem the crisis, Tokyo and Tawa were invited to a meeting
at the Police Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan. Ladoja’s
Special Advisers on Security, Chief Bola Alphonso and Labour
Matters, Comrade Bolomope were allegedly present at the meeting.
While Tokyo attended the meeting, Tawa boycotted. Sunday Sun
learnt that at the meeting, a committee was constituted to
take over the union. Tokyo was said to have opposed the composition
of the committee which he claimed was largely dominated by
Tawa’s loyalists. He therefore declined to make any
undertaking at the meeting, insisting that the court should
be allowed to resolve the issue.
At the hearing of the suit at the Ibadan High Court, Iyagariku,
supporters of the two men clashed and lives were lost. Tokyo
and Tawa and some of their men were arrested and detained.
Two days later, Tawa and his supporters regained freedom leaving
11 supporters of Tokyo to face the charge of disurbance of
public peace.
Tokyo also regained freedom but was immediately re-arrested
to face murder charge. Then, the Abuja head office expelled
him and ordered elections into all the offices of the union
in the states. Tawa was declared elected and sworn in as chairman.
Abuja’s reason for election was that Tokyo was facing
a murder charge and therefore not eligible to contest election.
Emissaries
Since November last year, Tokyo has been in detention. His
men who spoke to Sunday Sun at Adedibu’s house in Molete,
Ibadan alleged that Tokyo is being kept behind bars because
“Ladoja hates his face.”
Tokyo was said to be aware of Ladoja’s alleged hatred
toward him. He had sent emissaries to the governor to plead
his case: “Pa Emmanuel Alayande, Chief Bode Amao, Alhaji
Arisekola Alao, Immams, other relatives and friends to Ladoja
to seek for forgiveness, if he had actually offended him.
He even sent gifts through a top official of his government
to the governor.” |
