As the issue of the appointment of a new Olubadan of Ibadan continues to generate a lot of debate, a video has gone viral showing how the late Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, blessed and anointed Chief Rasheed Ladoja before he died a few days back.
Before he passed, on 2nd January 2022 after a brief illness at UCH Ibadan at the age of 93, the late Olubadan, Oba Saliu met Alhaji Rasheed Ladoja at a public function where the Olubadan commended him for all his efforts and prayed for him to become an Olubadan. After Olubadan’s speech, the Muslim cleric who officiated at the event then asked Ladoja to stand up from his seat and prostrate before the Olubadan for further prayers. The cleric told Ladoja that it is very unusual to have an incumbent Olubadan pray for a High Chief to become Olubadan when the sitting Olubadan was still alive. He added that Oba Saliu must be commended and that the follow up to that is for Ladoja to prostrate before Oba Saliu for further prayers, so as to make it happen. High Chief Ladoja obeyed. He prostrated and the late Olubadan blessed him immensely. It is no longer a hidden fact that whilst he was alive, the late Olubadan and Chief Rasheed Ladoja enjoyed a very, very close relationship like that of a father and son. It is also on record that throughout the late Olubadan’s crisis with the late Governor of Oyo State, Senator Ajimobi, Ladoja was one person who stood with him firmly and made sure that the late Olubadan was not dethroned.
With the ongoing crisis with regards to the appointment of a new Olubadan, some people have brought up the story of the blessing Ladoja received from Olubadan. But Ladoja has come out to say he is not competing with Sen. Lekan Balogun for the stool. In his statement days back, he stated categorically that it was Balogun’s turn to be Olubadan.
Rasheed Adewolu Ladoja Governor of Oyo State from 29 May 2003 was a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). But he was impeached in January 2006 and reinstated in December 2006. His term ended in 2007. Ladoja became a member of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in December 2018.
Ladoja was born on 25 September 1944 in Gambari village near Ibadan. He attended Ibadan Boys High School (1958–1963) and Olivet Baptist High School (1964–1965). He studied at the University of Liège, Belgium (1966–1972) where he earned a degree in Chemical Engineering. He obtained a job with Total Nigeria, an oil company, where he worked for 13 years in various positions before entering a private business in 1985. His business interests include Shipping, Manufacturing, Banking, Agriculture and Transportation. He was elected to the Senate of Nigeria in 1993 during the short-lived Nigeria Third Republic, he was a member of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) during the Abacha Political Transition. By 2000, Ladoja had become a director of Standard Trust Bank Limited.
Ladoja was elected governor of Oyo State in April 2003 on the PDP platform and took office on 29 May 2003. He was supported by Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, a PDP power broker in the state. By August 2004, Ladoja and Adedibu were locked in a fierce struggle over the allocation of government appointees. Ladoja was not supported by the party in this dispute. In an interview in late 2005, the PDP National Chairman, Ahmadu Ali, said that Ladoja should take instructions from Lamidi Adedibu.
On 12 January 2006, Ladoja was impeached by Oyo State legislators and forced out of office. His deputy, Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, was sworn in as the new governor. On 1 November 2006, the Appeal Court in the state capital, Ibadan, declared the impeachment null and illegal but advised waiting for confirmation of this decision by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the decision on 11 November 2009, and Ladajo officially resumed office on 12 December 2006. Anti-riot police were deployed along the main roads leading to the main government offices to prevent violence from supporters of Adebayo Alao-Akala and Lamidi Adedibu during his reinstatement.
Ladoja failed to win the PDP nomination as a candidate for a second term. He chose to back the Action Congress candidates for 33 local council chairmanship elections. The PDP refused to participate in the elections. As a result, the Action Congress (AC) won 26 seats and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) won seven. However, his successor as governor, his former deputy and former acting governor Christopher Adebayo Akala, sacked the council chairmen shortly after taking office and replaced them with PDP supporters.
On 28 August 2008, Ladoja was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of non-remittance of the proceeds of the sale of government shares totalling N1.9 billion during his administration. He was briefly remanded in prison by the Federal High Court in Lagos on 30 August 2008. He was granted bail on 5 September, in the amount of 100 million naira with two sureties for the same sum. In March 2009, a former aide testified on the way on which the share money had been divided between Ladoja’s family, bodyguard, senior politicians and lawyers.
Ladoja was the governorship candidate for Accord Party in Oyo State during the April 2011 and 2015 elections, he lost to Senator Abiola Ajimobi. He later merged his Accord Party into PDP in 2017. A dispute in PDP made him and other allies (from Labour Party, All Progressives Congress APC etc.) move over African Democratic Congress (ADC) in 2018. After a brief sojourn in ADC which proved to be a marriage of strange bedfellows, Ladoja with his followers moved to the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in December 2018.
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