I prostrated before Ladoja to end Olubadan crisis – Makinde, celebrates ex-gov’nor @80

Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, Wednesday, described in detail how he and Chief Rashidi Ladoja reconciled over his alleged attempts to obstruct Ladoja’s ascent to the position of Olubadan of Ibadanland.

Makinde spoke during the 80th birthday of celebration of Chief Ladoja, at the Bodija, Ibadan residence of the former governor.

He said a truce was arranged when the two were summoned to a meeting by several well-known Ibadan elders, during which he prostrated and expressed his regret to Ladoja for whatever mistakes he may have made.

The governor stated: “I see how people abuse me, saying I do not want Senator Ladoja to become Olubadan.

“Then, I was invited to a meeting by Ibadan elders. The meeting started with Baba Ladoja saying, Seyi, I know you feel offended because I did not support you in the last election because the position you took made the senators contesting on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lose the last election.

“I then responded that, Daddy, sometimes you may not know the outcome of what you’re trying to do because you may want to achieve certain things. If that didn’t happen, Sarafadeen Alli may not have become a senator today.

“I said, Daddy, I have nothing against you, and there’s no way that my political history will be written without the name, Senator Rashidi Ladoja.

Makinde stated that he first met Ladoja in 2002 when he and a few other people founded the Fortune group, which was intended to help Ladoja fulfill his dream of becoming governor, adding that Ladoja spearheaded the alliance that propelled him to the governorship in 2019.

“In 2002, we formed Fortune Group to support Daddy’s political ambition. I wasn’t in politics before 2002. It was my interaction in that group, and someone in the group met me and said that having supported Baba Ladoja to become governor and supported others, I can also become a senator.

“Then they started calling me ‘Distinguished’, adding that we should begin planning on how I can become a Senator, and I bought into that idea. That was the genesis of my joining politics.

“I then told Daddy that my political trajectory cannot be written without him featuring. We may disagree along the line, in 2007, 2011, 2015, but a recurring decimal is there.

“When I was to become governor in 2019, Baba midwived the coalition then. I then prostrated that wherever I may have offended Baba, I apologise. That was the end of the crisis concerning Olubadan ascension and Ibadan chieftaincy.

“And from that point, because there is sincerity, I asked for resolution of the crisis as history beckons, and Daddy accepted.

“This is not the only thing that would make me come to Baba, and sincerely we will have a meeting of minds and lines of alignment,” governor Makinde said

The event was attended by dignitaries from in and outside Ibadan.