•Ex-Oyo gov. doubts PDP will survive crisis
•’My problem with Ajimobi, Alao-Akala’

By Bashir Adefaka

Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja is a big name who made a fortune in business. Despite his status, the high chief of Ibadan, however, lives an incredibly simple lifestyle such that an  unsuspecting onlooker would place him among  peasant farmers.

To further justify our curiosity, the former governor  of Oyo State was described, during Sunday Vanguard’s visit to his Bodija GRA, Ibadan home on Tuesday, 10 December, 2013, by one of his loyalists as an enigma in politics. Ladoja made his money through many ways: an engineer, a  farmer whose food crops are sold not only to the people of Oyo State but also beyond, a shipping company owner and generally a business mogul. His lifestyle falls below his worth. A sampler: A friend who visited him had an experience to share on how Ladoja’s simplicity confused him  while trying to locate his house on arrival.

The man, another money bag, came from Port Harcourt where he lived.  Personal Assistant on Domestic Affairs to the former governor told the rest of the story: “The man’s home  in Port Harcourt is like the Presidential Villa.  He had phoned Ogathat he was coming to meet him in Ibadan. The address was given to him and, as he landed at the Ibadan airport, he drove straight to Ondo Street  where Ogalives.  He found it difficult to locate the house.

“We had to come outside and stood on the road in front of the house for the visiting friend to know that the place he had passed several times was former Governor Ladoja’s residence.  He told us that the modest nature of the house confused him and that he had expected something  uncommon,”  narrated Alhaji Mutiu.
Whereas a sitting governor would  amass cars and property, Ladoja, it was gathered, right from his days in office as governor, decided to live a life of simplicity.

‘I feel  comfortable living a simple life’
Even when the former governor dresses, most of the time he is clad in Ankara  Ladoja, who admitted that people called him Baba Alankara due to his choice of Ankara dresses, told Sunday Vanguard the story of how his tour of Benin Republic, with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo when both leaders were governor and President respectively, influenced the coming of Ankara dress into his style.

He said, “I have been wearing Ankara particularly when I was governor of Oyo State and Obasanjo was President of Nigeria.  We both travelled to Benin Republic. Obasanjo was wearing Ankara and I remember the President of that country at that time, Kereku, telling his people, ‘Look at the President of the greatest nation in this region.

He is wearing Ankara.  You people have been wasting your money buying imported fabric.  His country is rich and he himself is rich yet he chooses to live simple by wearing what is produced in his country.” That was when I saw the sense in what he said and I decided to stick to my wearing of Ankara manufactured in Nigeria.
“But all along, dressing so gorgeously does not really make you a big or important person. I feel more comfortable dressing the simple way I do.”

Asked how he was coping living a simple lifestyle despite his billions, Ladoja said,  jovially, “What does that mean? Do you think I have a billion naira in my account (laughs)?  You see, there are certain things to which you don’t really have to attach too much  importance.  You can’t sleep in more than one room.  If I want to eat, I don’t eat more than my stomach can take.  I do not see myself in the light of what you are talking about.

If you have money, what matters is how much you spend the money to improve the lives of others.  What is important as far as I am concerned is to use my money to create opportunities for other people to grow.  That is the way I look at life rather than flaunting your wealth recklessly to prove your status.  I don’t think it is good enough.”
Ladoja’s home is a place where many people visit without being looked down upon.  Bird are not left out as the residence is home to many parrots, ostrich, among others. As the interview started, some of the birds shrieked  so loud the noise interrupted the session.  What did the owner (Ladoja) say?

He said: “They don’t know why you are here.  That is why they are shrieking.” Then the interview resumed. “So, the fact that you are a billionaire is not a reason for you to be extravagant or to begin to acquire what you don’t need.  God has given the money to all of us that have it to better the lives of those who do not have.”

Lunch
Journalists are always at home with Ladoja.
No wonder, despite all he suffered in the hands of his immediate successor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, and incumbent Governor Abiola Ajimobi, he remains in the good books of the media.  He is jovial, accommodating and simple.  Just before the last visit, he had put this reporter by his side in his own car, introduced  him to the top aides  in his entourage and drove with him through the streets of Ibadan ending up treating him, among other people, to lunch in his residence.

Tuesday December 10, 2013 was another day of simplicity display by the former governor, who never hid his soft spot for Vanguard. “Vanguard is my own paper and Uncle Sam is a good friend.  Say me well to him any time you see him,” he said. The assignment by Sunday Vanguard was to do a 24-Hour Report  on him.  But the former governor, through his top aide, Lanre Ogundipe, wanted to accommodate other journalists  who had requested for an interview.

The Sunday Vanguard’s reporter was still far away, on his way to Ibadan from Lagos,  when a call from Ladoja’s residence to his phone came. “Bashir, where are you? Are you nearby? Okay, all is set; we will wait for you,” the voice said.  The top aide of the former governor stood at the gate to receive me and led me, through the line of people sitting in the compound, into the presence of Oga.
The Ibadan based farmer stretched his hand for a handshake and the interview commenced.

‘I doubt  if PDP will survive  crisis’
On politics, Ladoja started by giving an update of membership registration exercise of his party, Accord.  He also spoke on the PDP would not survive its crisis, the  travails of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, why the INEC’s Attahiru Jega must not fail Nigerians come 2015 and why the reconciliation between him and his erstwhile deputy, Adebayo Alao-Akala failed.

His words, “The Accord membership registration exercise was a success.  Actually the way it went, people that were registered appeared to have done so because of the interest they have in our party because we have up to 10,000  members per ward.  So, it was a successful exercise and there has been tremendous progress.”

On the PDP crisis, he said, “When we founded the PDP, our intention was to make it a popular party, but, along the line, in 1999, the party was hijacked by some undemocratic forces.  But somehow we had been managing everything.  The President at that time wanted to be the leader of the party whereas our intention was to have a party that will be controlled by the people, not the party controlling the people.

That is what Tukur is trying to do, to restore the normal hierarchy in the party and so the governors, who felt they should control the party but were not allowed to continue to control the party, started to make trouble with the chairman.  That is the cause of the entire crisis you see going on in the party and I do not see the PDP being able to survive the crisis.

Founding objectives
“The PDP has totally lost focus.  It has abandoned its founding objectives and the party is now peopled with politicians who are opposed to the principles of democracy.  Tukur came in to correct these ills but I think he is seeing more than he expected. How far can he alone go amidst those people who are in the party only  for their self aggrandizement at  the expense of  the Nigerian people?  It is difficult. May be God will be kind to us one day such that we can have democrats in the majority in the party because whatever they do largely affects the country.”

Despite the controversy which dogged his leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, particularly due to the hitches recorded in the electoral umpire’s handling of the Anambra State governorship election, Ladoja said Professor Attahiru Jega was still not only credible but also that  he means  well for Nigeria.

The former governor likened his impeachment in 2006 to the current travails of Amaechi, stressing that governance must have stopped in the state since the beginning of the crisis as the Rivers governor  would be battling to save his political career.
He said the recent partnership between him and his successor, Alao-Akala, was not working because the latter was not willing to leave the PDP  to join Accord.

“Alao-Akala approached me to ask if we could work together.  We did not even talk  about what happened in the past.  Yesterday is gone.  We can only learn lessons from it to plan for tomorrow.  All I want is to work for the benefit of Oyo State.  We set up a committee but personal interests changed many things.  Bayo (Alao-Akala) is not ready to get out of PDP due to the privileges the party enjoys.  Our party, Accord, does not have any privilege to offer.  As far as I am concerned, our doors are open,”Ladoja said.

“PDP has factions and we cannot concentrate on only one of the factions while others are moving and the Alao-Akala group is not showing enough commitment.  We know what we want.  Our doors are open at all times to whoever wants to work with us or join us.”

‘Ajimobi is a  fake dreamer’
The former governor took on Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who recently described him as a dreamer. Ladoja  admitted dreaming but that while he was a real and positive dreamer in a way that transformed Oyo State infrastructure, education, health and agriculture during his tenure of office, Ajimobi is a fake dreamer, whose purported dream for the people of the state never came to fruition.

His words: “Ajimobi, my cousin, called me a dreamer. I know I am a dreamer but where my dreams had come to pass while in office, he has remained a dreamer whose dream for Oyo State people never came to reality.
“I dreamed about agricultural revolution and I did it by distributing tractors to farmers which boosted food production for the people. I dreamed about dualisation of Mokola/Sango road which I did. I dreamed about dualisation of Iwo Road, which I did.

I dreamed about having an Oyo State school where one class would have 30 children and it came to pass because I did. Today America is talking about 15 children per class but I started something close  during my administration so much so that we ranked second to Katsina State by SUBEB rating. The Mokola bridge that he couldn’t do well, I dreamed of it.  It was my dream but which I did not have the time on my side to do before I left office. Instead of him to come and ask what that dream entails and how to go about it, he is calling me a dreamer.”

Inside Ladoja’s home
Many theories have been propounded about why many people hanged around the late Lamidi Adedibu’s Molete residence during his days.  Most important of those theories revolved around the amala that he offered, which meant that people  could die for the late father of amala politics.

But in the case of Ladoja, those who spoke to Sunday Vanguard said they not only loved him but that they also had undiluted loyalty to him.  One of them said,  “Many big men have clothes and their clothes are very elegant. For Ladoja, his own clothes are the people. Now, it is clear to all doubting Thomases that Ladoja’s popularity transcends  Government House.
“It is over six years now that he left office.  See the number of people still hanging around  him.”