Former governor Rashidi Ladoja has said that the exit of ex-governor of the state, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, former deputy governor Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja and a former SSG of the state will not stop the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from winning in the state during the 2019 general elections.
Some former opposition party members would be welcomed officially to the All Progressives Congress, APC, in a ceremony at Mapo hall, Ibadan, today.
According to Ladoja, who spoke while fielding questions from journalists at his Ondo Street residence, Bodija, Ibadan, on Friday, when he hosted a former governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, all politicians are not more than five per cent of the voting population.
Hear him: “Do you know that all the politicians are not more than five per cent of the voting population? So, one person moving from one party to another does not matter, it is the population that matters. The population is still solidly behind us.
“Akala has been in APC since two years ago after he left Labour Party, LP, immediately after 2015 elections. I think it’s just now they have time to celebrate him because election is coming.
“Teslim is there. I don’t know how many people he has been able to take along, though he contested in the last election. He is welcomed to contest in another election again. Dele Adigun, is a good technocrat and I hope he will play the game according to the rules by being fair to everybody.
“I’m not contesting, I’m already an elder statesman, but I have flair for the PDP.”
Ladoja also described as untrue the allegation that since the structures of PDP in the state have been handed over to him, he had sidelined those that were strong supporters of the late strongman of Ibadan politics, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, based on the roles they allegedly played in his 11 months impeachment as governor of the state between 2003 and 2007.
“All those claims are not true. The PDP congresses were transparent, “he stated.
He further stated that PDP in the state would participate in the local government election which the state governor, Abiola Ajimobi, said would hold early next year, adding that the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) must give a 90-day notice before the conduct of the poll.
