Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed ex-Oyo Governor Rashidi Ladoja was impeached because he was ungrateful to his late political leader, Chief Lamidi Adedibu as well as Chief Yekinni Adeojo.
He spoke at the launch of Ex-Oyo Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala’s autobiography titled Amazing Grace in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Thursday.
Obasanjo, who was President from 1999 to 2007 during the incident, said Ladoja deliberately failed to accommodate the two political leaders in his administration despite being in the same Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He explained all his attempts to reconcile Ladoja with the duo were unsuccessful as Ladoja turned deaf ears to his entreaties.
He said it was the reason he paid heavily for it.
Reacting to page 140 of the book, Obasanjo said: “You pointed out on page 140 that Ladoja picked up a quarrel with me for reason of a non-existent third term.
“I didn’t know that Ladoja picked up a quarrel that his becoming governor was due to the grace of God and major contributions of two people- Yekinni Adeojo from whom the party structure was snatched and Chief Adedibu who spearheaded the whole programme.
“I pleaded with him to make accommodation for them both. He told me that they were all Ibadan people and they knew how to deal with themselves.
“He subsequently proved himself right as they dealt with themselves and he, Ladoja, came out the worse for it.
Alao-Akala, who succeeded Ladoja in 2007 after serving as Deputy Governor and Acting Governor when Ladoja was impeached, noted he was a product of grace penciled in the hands of the creator who drew the picture of whom he became.
He added that God brought him from junctures where many who had great and greater hope of tomorrow fell.
He pointed out the title of his autobiography was not a happenstance but an audacity of providence to bring him out of the dungeon of a hopeless tomorrow into the fulfillment of a destiny.
Alao-Akala said: “I call this history-making, not strictly for any other reason but for the fulfillment of my long anticipated desire to codify how the tragic death of my father in a road accident in 1952 single-handedly threatened to swamp my dream of getting to the cusp of my life aspirations but how providence miraculously found for me a path to the top.
“How I became governor of Oyo State is also documented which serves as a reminder to those who may be prone to being quickly swept off by the amnesia of history that God used me and my team of dependable colleagues at that period in time to change the lives of the people in the state.”
