Ladoja's Running Mate in 2011 Polls Dies at 56

The running mate of Alhaji Rashidi Ladoja,  the Accord Party (AP) governorship candidate, in the 2011 poll in Oyo  State, Mr Sunday Alalade, is dead.

Alalade, 56, who had taken ill soon after the 2011 polls, it was learnt, died on Thursday night in his house at Ogbomoso.

The news of his death filtered out just as armed robbers burgled  the Ibadan home of former governor of the state, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala.

The late Alalade was a grassroots politician, having started his political career as a supervisory councillor and later chairman of Oriire Local Government Area of the state before he was appointed commissioner and chairman, Local Government Service Commission during the administration of Ladoja.

Ladoja, while reacting to the death, described Alalade as “a deeply loyal friend and political associate.”

The former governor said his running mate was a firm believer in service to the people.

“During our days in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I nominated the late Alalade to one of the reconciliation committees set up by the party alongside four others. I want to tell you that he was the only one that remained out of the five nominees and came into Accord with me and stayed. What this meant was that he believed in what I believe in, which is service to the people of Oyo State,” Ladoja added.

He said the political sagacity of the late politician would be missed by his party and prayed to God to give the deceased’s family the strength to bear the loss.

Meanwhile, suspected armed robbers reportedly broke into the residence of Alao-Akala, located at the GRA area of old Bodija, Ibadan, carting away valuables whose value could not be estimated as at the time of filing this report.

According to sources, the robbers, in the wee hours of Saturday, gained entrance into the building after digging through the wall of the former governor’s private residence.

Alao-Akala was said to have been in the United Kingdom while his wife, Oluwakemi, had travelled to Ogbomoso, her husband’s hometown,  to pay a condolence visit to the family of the late Alalade.

The robbery has been reported at the Bodija Police Station.


-- Thisdaylife