Ladoja’s supporters: we will remain in ADC

Several supporters of former Oyo State Governor Rashidi Ladoja yesterday sent him a negative message: enough of jumping from one party to another.

Thousands of supporters in Oke-Ogun took the decision at a meeting held in Okaka, Itesiwaju Local Government Area.

Last week, Ladoja dumped the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for Zenith Labour Party (ZLP). It was the third time he defected from one party to another in the last two years.

He dumped Accord party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last year after contesting as governor and failing twice on Accord’s platform, which he joined in 2010.

But he defected to the ADC in May following irreconcilable differences with the new leader of the PDP in the state, Mr Seyi Makinde.

The former governor again dumped the ADC for ZLP last week, citing excesses of members of the Unity Forum, a bloc within the party. Members of the forum defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May after failing to get tickets of the party for the various positions they desired.

In a communique released at the end of the meeting, Ladoja’s supporters said they still recognised him as their leader but would not leave the ADC with him.

They also insisted on keeping their support for the ADC governorship candidate, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, who got the ticket through Ladoja’s support.

The communique reads: “The meeting noted that Senator Ladoja is still recognised as our leader and we have been loyal to him up till now. All the times he contested elections, we supported his candidature with everything we had. It was noted that loyalty is not transferable: our loyalty to Senator Ladoja is, therefore, not transferable.

“We recognised that having believed in Senator Lanlehin (another disciple of Senator Ladoja), he (Ladoja) endorsed him as the ADC governorship candidate for Oyo State in the 2019 general election. We hereby pledge our continued support for the candidature of Senator Lanlehin as the ADC governorship candidate for Oyo State in the forthcoming election.

“The meeting, therefore, unanimously resolved that the Oke-Ogun Ladoja Political Group affirms that we still remain as members of ADC in Oyo State, Nigeria with an unflinching support for Senator Lanlehin’s governorship candidature.”

The communique was signed by Hamid Gbadamosi and Rafiu Afuku.