Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on Wednesday gave details about how the tension between him and Senator Rashidi Ladoja over perceived plans by him to put obstacles on the path of Ladoja becoming Olubadan of Ibadan land was resolved.
He said truce was brokered when some respected Ibadan elders invited the duo to a meeting where he prostrated and apologised to Ladoja for any way he may have erred.
Makinde said since the peace was brokered, he continued to have meetings with Ladoja to ensure they continued to have lines of agreement.
Makinde, who spoke on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Senator Rashidi Ladoja, remarked that his political history would not be written without mention of Ladoja.
Speaking at the Bodija, Ibadan, residence of the former governor, Makinde said his encounter with Ladoja dates back to the year 2002 when he and some other persons formed the Fortune group meant to support the governorship ambition of Ladoja.
This is as he noted that Ladoja midwived the coalition that made him become governor in 2019.
Makinde, however, acknowledged that he usually had disagreements with Ladoja during the various electoral cycles since 2007, with the 2023 election being the latest.
He noted that the pre-2023 election disagreement with Ladoja was his political stance on the presidency, which the former governor feared would seal the fate of the three senatorial candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election.
Makinde said, “I see how people abuse me, saying I do not want Senator Ladoja to become Olubadan.
“Then, I was invited to a meeting by Ibadan elders. The meeting started with Baba Ladoja saying, Seyi, I know you feel offended because I did not support you in the last election because the position you took made the senators contesting on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lose the last election.
“I then responded that, Daddy, sometimes you may not know the outcome of what you’re trying to do because you may want to achieve certain things. If that didn’t happen, Sarafadeen Alli may not have become a senator today.
“I said, Daddy, I have nothing against you, and there’s no way that my political history will be written without the name, Senator Rashidi Ladoja. Muyi is here today.
“In 2002, we formed Fortune Group to support Daddy’s political ambition. I wasn’t in politics before 2002. It was my interaction in that group, and someone in the group met me and said that having supported Baba Ladoja to become governor and supported others, I can also become a senator.
“Then they started calling me ‘Distinguished’, adding that we should begin planning on how I can become a Senator, and I bought into that idea. That was the genesis of my joining politics.
“I then told Daddy that my political trajectory cannot be written without him featuring. We may disagree along the line, in 2007, 2011, 2015, but a recurring decimal is there.
“When I was to become governor in 2019, Baba midwived the coalition then. I then prostrated that wherever I may have offended Baba, I apologise. That was the end of the crisis concerning Olubadan ascension and Ibadan chieftaincy.
“And from that point, because there is sincerity, I asked for resolution of the crisis as history beckons, and Daddy accepted.
“This is not the only thing that would make me come to Baba, and sincerely we will have a meeting of minds and lines of alignment.”
The celebration at Ladoja’s house featured prayers, especially by Islamic clerics led by the Chief Imam of Ibadan Land, Sheikh Abdulganiy Agbotomokekere.
Personalities present at the event included: former deputy governor, Rauf Olaniyan; Senators Fatai Buhari and Sharafadeen Alli; President General, Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes, Chief Sulaimon Ajewole; members of the Oyo State cabinet; members of various Ibadan Indigenes’ associations; traditional rulers; Baales; Mogajis; leaders of the three religions.
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