Group commends truce moves between Ajimobi, Ladoja

A Socio-Cultural Group, Oyo Patriotic Front (OPF) has commended the reported truce initiative between Governor Abiola Ajimobi and former governor Rashid Ladoja being brokered by the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), describing it as heartwarming and a step in the right direction for the development of the state and Ibadan as a city.

The group, however, cautioned Governor Ajimobi not to get carried away by the development as previous experience have shown that the former governor may never reciprocate his good gestures, warning that it is better to keep one’s avowed enemy at arms length.

The Group’s chairman, Chief Jare Adepoju urged Governor Ajimobi to consider the antecedents of Senator Ladoja, noting that the peace move by the CCII to resolve the entire imbroglio in Ibadan and Oyo State as a whole is commendable.

“However, we want to caution Governor Ajimobi not to get carried away. He should remember that his gestures in the past were repaid ungraciously. He should not become complacent because of the truce else he regrets this in future as his magnanimity in the past that made people close to the former governor part of the decision making process in the state did not them from cynical viewing of decisions they were a part of in public,” he said

According to him,  the recent assertion by Senator Ladoja that the Oyo State Housing Corporation gave him a land and not Governor Ajimobi on a radio program when it is public knowledge that the Oyo State Housing Corporation cannot give land free of charge to anybody without the consent of the governor is in bad taste especially coming from a former governor who should know better.

He added that the former governor’s recent urge that the police should probe the state government over the violent attack on Olubadan should not be taken seriously but seen as a diversionary attempt from the real issues, stating that the general public knows that Ajimobi’s name is synonymous with peace while Ladoja’s name is synonymous with violence.

The Chairman regretted that the governor whose tenure was riddled with violence could be pointing accusing fingers at the government that has been preaching and practicing the sustainability of peace, stressing that the traces of the violence that trailed the primary elections of Accord Party prior to 2015 general elections is a pointer to his personality.

Adepoju appealed to the general public to consider the sustainability of peace in the state as a collective responsibility adding “the achievements of Ajimobi’s administration should be seen as our collective patrimony and guarded jealously.