Ladoja speaks on Makinde's re-election

A former governor of Oyo State, Rasheed Ladoja, has congratulated Governor Seyi Makinde on his re-election.

Mr Ladoja’s congratulatory message was contained in a statement he personally signed on Tuesday.

Mr Ladoja, the Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland, had publicly opposed Mr Makinde’s re-election bid.

He mobilised against the second term ambition of Mr Makinde following an alleged failure of the governor to honour an agreement that inspired the coalition that backed him to win ihis first term election in 2019.

A few days before the election, the former governor endorsed Teslim Folarin of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and also urged his supporters in the state to mobilise support for the APC candidate.

But Mr Ladoja’s preferred candidate lost after he scored a total vote of 256,685 behind governor Makinde, who polled a total of 563,756 votes.

Mr Folarin had also on Tuesday conceded defeat by congratulating Mr Makinde on his victory.

Ladoja’s counselMr Ladoja, in his congratulatory message, encouraged the governor to fulfill all his campaign promises as he embarked on his second term in office.

“By now, the campaigns are over, the outbursts are over, the various lies are over the abuses are over, the curses are over the deliberate misinterpretations are over, the jostling for spaces are over,” he said.

“All the dramatis personae have quit the stage with their laurels and bruises leaving you alone. What is now left are your promises and stark realities,” he added.

“May God help you succeed to the people’s expectation, your satisfaction and fulfillment in this selfless job before you.”

Mr Ladoja governed the state between 2003 and 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He defected to the Zenith Labour Party in December 2018.

He led the coalition that backed Mr Makinde to win election in 2019.But the coalition later collapsed six months after, following accusation that Mr Makinde breached the agreement on sharing of slots of commissioners and other political appointments in his administration.

The then coalition comprised the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and the PDP.

Under the agreement as claimed by members of the coalition, PDP was to take 64 percent of political appointments, ADC 30 percent, ZLP five percent and SDP one percent.

But after the election, Mr Makinde claimed there was no agreement between him and the coalition, while Mr Ladoja, who led the coalition, insisted that there was agreement between them.