There is no evidence that the purported defection of former Governor Rashidi Ladoja to the All Progressives Congress will help the party clinch victory in next election or dent a huge blow on the ruling PDP chances of survival. In a way, the recent visitation of Governors Mai Mala Buni, Atiku Abubakar Bagudu and Muhammed Badaru Abubakar of the APC to the Bodija residence of Senator Ladoja is of little or no significance and impact on the electoral comeback of the party in the state.
Recall such visitation was made to Senator Ladoja on the 17th of September, 2017 by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, interim PDP National Chairman. That meeting perfected and cemented Senator Ladoja’s homecoming as part of effort and game plan to win back the state from the APC. “We left PDP because its leaders at that time were not ready to protect the interest of all members” Senator Ladoja told his visitor, “We are back now, because the new leadership has promised to right all wrongs and avoid mistakes of the past”.
In his last outing at the poll as the candidate of the Accord Party, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja put up an impressive performance coming second with 254, 520 votes as against 327, 301 garnered by the APC. That unexpected performance made him a toast and a force to reckon with in the political permutations of the state. Added to this is his close affinity to the grassroots people at the hinterland. Clear reason his defection to the Zenith Labor Party (ZLP) at the eve of 2019 elections sent shiver down the spines of Engineer Seyi Makinde political camp. Fortunately, a last minute backdoor pact was reached to roll out Senator Ladoja’s political clout in favor of Engineer Seyi Makinde. But now, that pact has come tumbling down.
On the March 2nd, 2021 loyalists to Senator Ladoja decamped from their own midwife Zenith Labor Party after efforts to make the Governor, Seyi Makinde’s fulfill his political promise hit rock bottom. “After judging from different political narratives and we have to choose the best out of the lots” Kazeem Raji, a Chieftain of ZLP said, “APC remains the best political party to join today” This defection heightened speculation that indeed the political machinery of the Ibadan High chief is packing into the fold of the All Progressives Congress. “Without Ladoja” ZLP spokeman, Kola Olaniyan told newsmen “we cannot move to APC. It is with his knowledge that we took that decision”. Moving from PDP, to Labor Party, to Accord Party, to ADC, to ZLP and now possibly APC, Senator Ladoja is undoubtedly a legendary Nigerian serial defector.
In the space of twelve years, Senator Rashidi Ladoja has changed party six times, an average of one party in two years. That’s record breaking in the history of political carpet crossing! Writing about Nigerian politicians obsession with defection, a political analyst and public affairs commentator, Bamidele Olateju Ademola observed that “politics is not a morality although it can be engaged with high levels of morality”. Further, she said “politics is about interest, power and how to get and hold it”. Nigerian politicians in their cleverness, she concluded know there is an ideological and political impasse, hence their habitual cross carpeting and defection at the slightest of disaffection.
In the 2019 elections, APC had a rough, tough and tumultuously heartbreaking ride in Oyo state. Its Presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari got thrashed by opposition candidate former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar by a slim margin of and its 1,461 while its Gubernatorial flag-bearer, Chief Adebayo Adelabu got flogged by the Engineer Seyi Makinde of the People’s Democratic Party. In a way, APC has been on the run to turn the tide and win back the state both for its Presidential and Governorship candidates in the 2023 elections. This is why the party keep working round the clock to bring bigwigs back to its fold.
But Oyo electorates are some of the wisest in Nigeria. Remember Late Abiola Ajimobi also boasted of having political heavyweights in his camp as Governor, yet those gladiators could not stop the imminent and humiliating defeat his party suffered in the last election. In reality, I think last poll should be an eye opener for both parties especially the APC. Winning gladiators while losing the masses is not the way to win election. What’s more, Senator Rashidi Ladoja’s planned defection indicates Nigerian politicians are the same across party divides and that their hearts lie where their interest hide. In other words, this defection is good for APC yet not bad for PDP, it is the people who decides the next occupant of Agodi Government house come 2023.
OYO101, Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion on issues affecting Oyo State, is published on Saturdays. He can be reached via muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com and 09065176850.
