Tunde Sanni
29 August 2008
Ibadan — The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arrested former Oyo State governor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, over allegations of non-remittance of the proceeds of sale of shares totaling N1.9 billion during his administration.
The shares owned by the state government were allegedly sold on the orders of the former governor while at the helm of affairs and the proceeds were said to be unaccounted for.
EFCC sources said Ladoja was picked up after honouring another invitation by the anti-graft agency yesterday afternoon in Lagos.
The former governor is at present being detained at the commission's office in Lagos
When contacted last night, the spokesman of the commission, Mr. Femi Babafemi, confirmed Ladoja's arrest but said he did not have details of the case against him.
Sources at the commission however said Ladoja had been on an administrative bail having been arrested by the commission sometime ago in connection with the same issue before he was released on bail.
As news of his arrest spread last night, reactions have been measured even from the Oyo State Government
Chief Dotun Oyelade, the Senior Special Assistant to the state Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, said his principal would not rejoice over the political misfortune of his former boss, stating, however, that the issues involved between Ladoja and the current governor was nothing personal.
He said: "We will not do anything or stop the activities of any anti-graft agency including EFCC. We wish Senator Ladoja well in his trying period."
Former Speaker, Hon Adeolu Adeleke, who claimed he was with the former governor two hours before his arrest, said there was nothing to fear over the development.
"I am sure he is a man of integrity. He has proven himself all along to be so," he said.
The Special Adviser on Security to Ladoja, Bola Alphonso, who recently defected to the Alao-Akala camp, said, "if for the sake of getting to the root of the matter, the action is justifiable but for whatever reason, I know the man is a man of integrity."
There has been no love lost between the Ladoja administration and that of his successor and former deputy, Alao-Akala.
The battle started early in the administration of Alao-Akala when the government accused the Ladoja administration of selling the shares of the state totaling N1.9billion in the twilight of that regime.
Alao-Akala had said the matter had been reported to the anti-graft agencies.
Specifically, the state government through its chief spokesman, Oyelade, hinted that the former governor had been reported to the Special Fraud Unit {SFU} of the Nigeria Police.
Head of the SFU, Yinka Balogun, then a Commissioner of Police, had declared the former governor wanted and in the media altercations that trailed the SFU brouhaha, Ladoja had raised an alarm over a plot by the Alao-Akala administration using the SFU as a subterfuge to eliminate him.
In the heat of the problem, Ladoja was declared wanted when he had appeared before the police fraud unit for interrogation. .
The matter had died naturally then until about a month later when the Alao-Akala government exhumed the shares issue when it stated that it had reported the case to EFCC, which led to the arrest of some principal functionaries in the Ladoja administration.
Key aides of the former administration invited by EFCC for interrogation on the shares issue included Secretary to the State Government {SSG}, Mr. Ayodele Adigun; Chief of Staff, Chief Sarafadeen Alli; Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Waheed Akanbi; and his Commerce and Cooperative counterpart, Mrs. Christianah Babalola; as well as the Senior Executive Special Assistant in the defunct administration, Chief Adewale Atanda.
However, following the seeming delay in taking concrete action by the anti-graft agency over the shares issue, the state government threatened to raise a panel of inquiry to probe the Ladoja years in government and assist in the recovery of the proceeds of the shares.
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As much as I don't care that much for the plight of Ladoja nor the late Adedibu, I concur with Gishola's observation. Even the Financial Times of London's article "Open Season on OBJ" have seen thru this current administration and its brand of EFCC sensational politic of witch-hunting. I would call this payback time "The Revenge of the Lootocrat."
One wonders if the sale of shares is normally handled by the governor of a state and when such shares are sold, there is no procedure for the accountant general of the state to account for such a revenue. The feeling is that such a procedure exists and, there is a hunch, that it might have been followed but with the present administration in the country, the policy seems to shout wolf where there is non especially in the area of corruption in order to try to destroy the names of those that are seen by the public as really… [Read Full Text]