The crisis rocking Accord Party (AP) has taken a new dimension as a former House of Representatives member, Dr. Olubukola Ajaja, has declared that the National leader of the party and former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, was no longer a member of the party.
It would be recalled that a faction of the party loyal to the Ibadan High Chief had, on Monday morning, placed an advertorial on radio stations in the state, disowning the planned Southwest factional meeting of the party billed for Ibadan .
But speaking at the meeting, Ajaja explained that Ladoja is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and not Accord, maintaining that with the former governor’s purported exit from the party, the structure of Accord “is no longer in the hands of Senator Ladoja and his faction”.
Hear her: ” I want the public to note that the only Accord Party in the South-West is the one that is holding a meeting today in Ibadan . The leaders felt that we cannot continue with the system that led to our downfall in the last election. That was why we also felt that it was time for people of like minds within the party in the South- West to come together to chart a future for it for the sake of the suffering people in the zone.” she said.
Ajaja, who represented Ibadan North East/ South East between 2011 and 2015, added that Senator Ladoja has no role to play in this meeting , saying, ” as far as I am concerned and with media report , he has gone back to the PDP but the AP must not die.”
Ajaja said she was denied a ticket to return to the National Assembly because of the lack of internal democracy in Accord.
She emphasized that as at present, the two big parties in the country have various challenges and image crisis but the Accord has a clean record throughout Nigeria.
However, the Publicity Secretary of the Accord Party in the state, Akeem Olatunji, said Ladoja had yet to make a public statement about joining the PDP and that the meeting held in Ibadan was illegal.
He said the structure of Accord Party remained with Ladoja and that the tenure of the national executive of the national party had lapsed. He denounced Ajaja, revealing that she worked for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. He added: “She’s currently one of the legislative aides of Hon. Yakubu Dogara…”
At the meeting were the chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Dr. Isaac Adeniyi, and leaders of the party from the South-West states.
According to Adeniyi, he had spoken with Ladoja over his alleged plan to join the PDP and that the former governor gave the assurance that he remained in the AP.
He said, “I am aware of the talk between Ladoja and the PDP through the media. Fortunately, Ladoja was with me in Lagos at the time and I asked him for his comment. He said he was not ready to leave the party. I am aware that Senator Femi Lanlein later represented him at a PDP meeting in Ibadan last week but we had yet to talk about it. I am still holding him by his words.”
