A former governor of Oyo State and the Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rasidi Adewolu Ladoja has ordered the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) electoral committee to allow those who were disqualified in controversial manners to contest the election.
Ladoja, gave this directive when he hosted some members of the organisation at his Bodija, Ibadan residence on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by the two presidential candidates among whom are Barrister Ajeniyi Ajewole and Mogaji Samson Olukayode Taiwo and other members of the organization.
The former governor while addressing the gathering advised those who were disqualified in controversial manners by the electoral committee to go ahead and contest in the forthcoming election.
Recall that Mr Adeola Oloko, a former Personal Assistant to a former Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji and some candidates have been allegedly disqualified by the electoral committee ahead of next month election of the organisation.
Ladoja has however ordered the aggrieved candidates to go ahead and contest in the election.
He directed all the aggrieved candidates to also withdraw all cases filed against the apex socio-cultural body from court to allow for peaceful conduct of the election.
Ladoja while speaking decried the use of libellous and uncharitable language to describe perceived and real opponents in the run-up to the elections,wondering why service-driven and voluntary assignments in CCII now attract so much hostility.
He regretted that as enlightened individuals, contestants and their supporters should have resorted to marketing their candidates and their manifesto rather than resorting to the use of derogatory and disturbing remarks.
He urged CCII members to desist from labelling people who seek to serve their fatherland as “thieves”.
He said, “That we are daily inundated with in the social media. This is very disturbing. Many social media users see the platform as an avenue to say anything. Users should be mindful that there is proper record keeping of every item dropped.”