There was bound to be a friction at some point. However, what many could not determine was the severity of the frictional force. As things stand today, the gladiators in this unfolding battle for supremacy in Oyo State politics are not about to let go.
And so, even as the dust raised by his expulsion from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. is yet to settle, veteran politician, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu on Monday declared that only the national secretariat of the party could solve the leadership crisis rocking the Oyo State chapter of the party.
The run up to this was the expulsion of Adedibu from the party last week by the Governor Rashidi Ladoja inspired state chapter of the party.
Alhaji Adedibu who spoke to newsmen at his Molete residence, however, said, “the struggle will continue” in the state until the PDP headquarters delivers its verdict.
The politician who claimed that he was still a member of the PDP five days after the state caucus of the party announced his expulsion said “it is a disgrace to them with less than 20 hours after they pronounced the expulsion, the national secretariat said the decision is illegal.”
Said he: “The struggle continues, we shall abide by the decision of the national secretariat, we will not go outside the decision. We are still waiting for the directive from the national secretariat.”
According to him, “we have received indications from the headquarters of the party that the aborted Ibadan meeting will hold again at a place to be decided by the Abuja secretariat of the party. We are expecting them but we have not got a date yet from them.”
“The Premier Hotel meeting was not concluded, it was a thing of war. So, we could not get anything out of that meeting. The National Chairman suspended the whole meeting and said they would call us later. We are still expecting the date.”
Giving an insight into the crisis, he said: “We have been misquoted and misunderstood. We are not demanding anything, we are only pointing out the wrong side of the whole thing. Why should we be demanding for anything? The SSG, the commissioner for finance and the governor are from the same ward, from one local government out of the 33 councils, we are only calling the attention of the public to this, if that had happened anywhere.”
“We have been criticising that and we want everybody to take note of this. Is it right for governor, SSG and finance commissioner to be from one local government? Eight commissioners were appointed from Oyo Central Senatorial district where we lost during the elections. We feel we are right and reasonable people will share our opinion that we are right.”
Alhaji Adedibu explained that it was only in Oyo State that appointment into key offices are lopsided, adding that those who were nowhere to be found during the campaigns have been appointed into offices.
The face-off between the incumbent governor Ladoja and the man whom many refer to as the strong man of Oyo politics, Alhaji Adedibu, can be likened to the ugly situation that has rocked the political stage in Anambra State. It is synonymous to the crisis of godfatherism in Anambra state between Governor Chris Ngige and Chief Chris Uba.
The genesis of the whole conflict rocking Oyo State started when Governor Ladoja refused to endorse the commissioners that Alhaji Adedibu had imposed on the governor. This later led to the face-off between the two gladiators.
Several lives have so far been lost as a result of the crisis. Efforts were, however, made by the Oyo state chapter of the party to quell the ugly situation which has made governance almost impossible for Ladoja and as such, many party members– from both factions of the party– have so far been counting their loses.
In finding a lasting solution to the crisis rocking the affairs of Oyo state PDP, a peace initiative was at a time brokered by President Olusegun Obasanjo himself, for he had a premonition that things might likely get out of hand, which might result in calls for the declaration of a state of emergency.
The peace initiative was aimed at ensuring that both parties had a fair say in who gets what from the government of Oyo State, while at the same time bringing both factions to co-habit with each other. As a matter of fact, the national chairman of the PDP,Chief Ogbeh led a strong delegation of PDP officials to Oyo state to peacefully resolve the crisis.
But there was to be no thaw in the frosty relationship between both men.
Things were to get out of hand when it became public knowledge that the peace meeting did not go down well with Adedibu‘s faction, thereby leading to further fracas in the state as supporters of both men never wanted to see eye to eye at any public function.
Things got so bad that there was even a case where Governor Ladoja was to attend a public function and Adedibu‘s men, getting a wind of it, decided to disrupt the occasion even before the governor arrived there. That was not all. Men loyal to governor Ladoja were also to taste the wrath of Adedibu‘s men.
However, the intra-party crisis was to take a new twist last week, when the expanded state caucus of the party expelled Adedibu and a governorship aspirant in 1999 and 2003, Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, from the party.
Thousands of PDP members and supporters led by Governor Ladoja had converged at the party’s secretariat, Mokola, Ibadan where the decision to expel the two PDP chieftains for alleged anti-party activities, was taken.
First to move the motion was the former Special Duties Minister under the Abacha regime, Elder Wole Oyelese. He moved the motion for the expulsion of Alhaji Adedibu and his group from the PDP fold.
Elder Oyelese explained that all of the members contributed to the progress and success of the party, and that nobody can hold them to ransom adding that in order to move the party forward, discipline has to be instilled.
His words : “We all contributed to the success of the party, Adedibu cannot hold us to ransom for peace to reign in the Oyo State PDP. And to move forward, there is need to expel Adedibu from the party.” Seconding the motion was Chief Samuel Adetoro from Oke-Ogun who also agreed with what the former had said.
Also present at the enlarged meeting was the former Secretary to the Oyo State Government, Dr. Dejo Raimi, it was he who moved the motion for the expulsion of Alhaji Adeojo and the motion was seconded by Alhaji Bashir Babalola from Iddo local government of the state. It should be noted here that Alhaji Yekini Adeojo was a gubernatorial candidate in 1999 and 2003 and he is known to be loyal to the embattled godfather, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.
Due to the fact that the party‘s leadership position will be left vacant, Chief Bayo Babalola who saw the governor as a force to reckon with moved a motion that Governor Ladoja be adopted as leader of the party in the state. At the end of the four-hour meeting held amidst tight security, Senator Brimo Yusuff from Ogbomosho read a five-point communique, announcing the resolutions of the party:
First on the list of the agreement at the meeting was that “one Chief Lamidi Adedibu be expelled from the party forthwith in Oyo State; secondly it was agreed that Chief Yekini Adeojo also be expelled from the party in Oyo State. While the Executive Committee of the PDP in Oyo state directed that investigations should be intensified on the activities of other leaders as well as members from all the local governments, it also said that appropriate disciplinary measures should be taken in respect of such.
In furtherance to this, the stakeholders forum resolved and accepted Senator Rashidi Ladoja as the leader of the party in the state.
Finally, the forum passed a vote of confidence in the state executive committee of the party led by Chief Michael Adegbite as the chief executive officer of the party”
Governor Ladoja who was also at the parley thereafter warned all those who felt they could twist the arm of the law saying that “Nobody is above the law, whoever causes a breach of the peace will be punished according to the law of the land.
In addition, the governor while appreciating the efforts of all traditional rulers in the state for the concern they‘ve shown so far regarding the crisis pointed out that “ the state government would no longer tolerate any breakdown of law and order in the state”.
But in a swift reaction, Alhaji Adedibu described his purported expulsion as a big joke, declaring that he remained a “bonafide member of the PDP in the state and Nigeria as a whole.”
When contacted immediately after the parley, Alhaji Adedibu said: “I have no reaction. They have no right to invite me to a meeting. I don’t want to join issues with them. I still remain a member of the PDP. The party’s constitution is very clear on how a member can be sanctioned. We don’t think about them here. We don’t bother about what they have done. We are waiting for directive from Abuja. If you, a member of the central working committee of a party, and some people say they have expelled the two people who constitute the state executive council, what do you do? It is a joke. Time will tell.”
Asked how he felt when he was informed that he and Adeojo had been expelled from the party, he said: “Well, that is how God wants it. God controls peace. We want peace but he (Ladoja) is not for peace.”On claims by Governor Ladoja that he (Ladoja) respected him, Alhaji Adedibu retorted: “He doesn’t need to respect me.
He respected me before he became governor and I lost the respect when he became governor. If my process and system are wrong, it is not for Ladoja to say so. He has benefitted from the system. It is through my system he became senator. It was through my system he became a high chief in Ibadan and it was my system that produced him as governor. I leave everything in the hands of God.”
But barely 24 hours into the expulsion, the national leadership of the party in its own response to the whole crisis, alienated itself from the decision of the Oyo PDP to expel Adedibu and Adeojo. But the Oyo state chapter of the party has however reiterated its earlier stance on Adedibu and Adeojo‘s expulsion from the party.
A top official of the National Central Working Committee, NCWC, of the party disclosed that “the leadership of the party is not happy with the governor, the statement we issued was an understatement”.
The official also said that the leadership, while not condoning the conduct of Adedibu and his ally, was, however, appalled by the breach of the constitution of the party with respect to sections dealing with discipline for party members.
“You don‘t just expel like that, you query; you suspend and not just at a questionable state caucus meeting. You don‘t just treat a member of the Board of Trustees like that”, the party stalwart stated.
The official further maintained that “if the governor refused to reverse the expulsion, the national leadership would sanction him (Ladoja) as well as the state exco members, adding that while the leadership confirmed the governor as leader of the party in Oyo state, “the powers should not be welded in violation of the constitution.
“We have communicated to the governor, the issue is to be debated at the next National Working Committee”, noting that Adedibu has been advised not to take the law into their own hands as ‘two wrongs cannot make a right’.
Alhaji Adeojo‘s expulsion, too, was frowned at the by the national leadership of the party. According to a party source, Adeojo who was the former deputy national chairman (south) of the party was said to “have kept a rather low profile on the issue and was also pointed out to be in the bad books for his refusal to attend the peace meeting which was reconvened for Abuja after the party leadership had visited him and other people involved in the dispute in their respective homes.
A critical look into the whole scenario will indicate that all is not yet well in Oyo state as peace seems to have consequently eluded the state. A cue can be taken from the Anambra state crisis where Chris Uba who was said to have been expelled from party at a time, got himself having to attend another peace initiative which was also organised by the same party that expelled him, the same may likely happen in the Adedibu case as a result of the refusal of the national leadership to endorse the recent expulsion of the latter.
President Olusegun Obasanjo was said to be unhappy about the development that led to the heavy punishment meted out to the two party chieftains as he said that “expulsion should be the last option for any member after all peaceful avenues have been exhausted”
Furthermore, he said that “Chief Adedibu and Adeojo are not just ordinary members, they are pillars in Oyo state PDP and indeed, Nigeria”.
