Ladoja good for Oyo governorship – Kalu

A former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has thrown his weight behind Senator Rashidi Ladoja’s second bid for the Oyo State governorship seat.
Ladoja who visited Kalu at his Lagos home on Saturday, said the visit was warranted by the longstanding friendship that exists between himself and Kalu.
He said both of them are even into shipping business.
According to a statement on Monday from the Media Office of Kalu, Ladoja, 69, said he wants to run for office again at his people’s demand.
He said he would be contesting on the platform of the Accord Party, adding that he had used it to unite his people.
On his part, Kalu said anyone who enjoys popular support should be able to run for office and rubbished statements circulating in the media that Ladoja was too old to govern Oyo State.
He stressed that Ladoja’s record during his first term in office speaks for itself.
Ladoja and Kalu also discussed the challenges facing the Peoples Democratic Party and charted a way forward.
With the support of now late Oyo PDP power broker, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, Ladoja was elected governor in 2003 and took office on May 29, 2003.
By August 2004, Ladoja and Adedibu were locked in a fierce struggle over the allocation of government appointees.
On January 12, 2006, Ladoja was impeached by Oyo State legislators and forced out of office, with his deputy, Otunba Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, sworn in as the governor.
On November 1, 2006, the Court of Appeal sitting in the state capital, Ibadan, declared the impeachment null and illegal, but advised the parties to the dispute to wait for the confirmation of this decision by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal on November 11, 2009, with Ladoja resuming on December 12, 2006.
Ladoja failed to win the PDP nomination as candidate for a second term.
He chose to back the Action Congress candidates for the 33 local council chairmanship election.
The PDP refused to participate in the election.
As a result, the Action Congress won 26 seats and the All Nigeria Peoples Party won seven.
However, his successor as governor, his former deputy and former acting governor Christopher Adebayo Akala, sacked the council chairmen shortly after taking his oath of office and replaced them with PDP supporters.
Ladoja has since formed the Accord Party, the platform on which he hopes to seek reelection in 2015.