Ladoja kicks as Alao-Akala orders council bosses to deliver

The governorship candidate of the Accord Party in Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has raised the alarm over an alleged directive given to the interim chairmen of the 33 local governments in the state by Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala. Alao-Akala was said to have hosted a Peoples Democratic Party’s stakeholders meeting at the Government House on Tuesday where he allegedly directed all the interim council bosses to ensure that they win their councils for the party in the Saturday National Assembly election. The governor was said to have ordered that the interim chairman of any of the councils who failed to deliver his local government to the party on Saturday should be ready to resign his appointment on Monday. He was said to have expressed his displeasure at the abysmal performance of the party in many of the local governments during the botched National Assembly election last Saturday. Speaking through his campaign organisation’s Director-General, Mr. Adeolu Adeleke, on Wednesday, Ladoja described the governor’s Riot Act to the council bosses as an invitation to anarchy which is not acceptable to his party. He said that the implication of the directive is that the governor wants his men to unleash terror on the people and win at all cost. He called on the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the State Security Service, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the state commissioner of police to probe the governor’s directive. He also asked them to provide enough security for the protection of lives and properties during the rescheduled NASS election. He said, “The Ladoja Campaign Organisation wants the Alao-Akala-led government to know that the people of the state cannot be intimidated and that the people will resist this evil plan. “The organisation wants the people of the state to come out en masse and cast their votes on Saturday for the candidates of the Accord Party without fear. “If the present administration had performed well as expected, did the governor need to give such directive to council chairmen? “The implication is that he has set up rigging squads in each of the local government to be snatching ballot boxes.” Adeleke also called for the immediate prosecution of those recently arrested with Direct Data Capturing machines in a hotel in Ibadan, saying that is the only way to assure the people of the sincerity of INEC to conduct free, fair and credible elections. He also supported the idea of using manual voter register for the Saturday election in view of the cases of many prospective voters whose names were missing in the registers provided last Saturday. By Olalekan Adetayo Courtesy Of: Punch