statement credited to Senator Babafemi Ojudu that he was a political
thug.He challenged Ojudu to bring his evidence forward if truly such an
incident happened between him and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as Ojudu had
claimed.
Igboho also said Pa Lamidi Adedibu never trained him as Ojudu claimed in
his write-up.
He described Senator Rashidi Ladoja as his leader and boss, adding that
he never betrayed him.
Ojudu had on Monday said with his support, Tinubu persuaded Igboho not
to interfere with the 2009 rerun election in Ekiti State, describing him
as a political thug who took money from politicians to cause violence.
Fielding questions from journalists in Ibadan over an arson attack on
his house, Igboho described as falsehood a piece written by Ojudu, where
he mentioned that the late Lamidi Adedibu contacted him as a thug to
disrupt the 2009 election in Ekiti State.
Igboho denied that he was ever in Ekiti State to disrupt an election.
Igboho said, “Ojodu mentioned Ahmed Tinubu in the piece, you can go and
ask him about the election. I have only worked for two people; the late
Lamidi Adesina and Rashidi Ladoja. I have never worked for Adedibu.
“Adedibu died in 2008 and Ojudu said the same Adedibu asked me to go to
Ekiti in 2009. You can see he is a liar. Politicians are trying to
penetrate the Yoruba struggle. You can kill the messenger but you cannot
kill the message.
“I don’t know any Ojudu and if he is sure that I met him in a hotel, let
him swear by the life of his children.”
In his piece, Ojudu aid Tinubu was able to dissuade Igboho from
disrupting the poll in Ekiti, even though Igboho had allegedly collected
money from a senator to wreak havoc in the state.
He said, “Tinubu went on and on, lecturing him on the beauty of
democracy and unencumbered electoral process. By the time Tinubu
finished with him, he became sober and contrite. ‘Baba’, he said, ‘I
have heard you and I am pleased with what you have said. Whatever you
want me to do, I will do even though I have collected money from the
other side’.
“This was the extent Tinubu went to secure Ekiti for his party, ACN.
Most of this, the candidate, Fayemi himself, was not even aware of.
“Tinubu then beckoned me to follow him to the bedroom of the suit he
occupied in the hotel. ‘Femi, this guy appears sincere. It does appear
we have dissuaded him’.
“’Thank you, Baba,’ Igboho said with a smile across his face as soon as
he received a golden handshake for agreeing not to destroy in Ekiti as
they had planned.
“He then said that he would be in Ekiti on the eve of the election but
at 2.00 am, I should put a call through to him. He would put his phone
on speaker and I should tell him I am a police AIG and that the police
had discovered his presence in Ekiti and would be raiding in 30 minutes
time. With that call, he would tell his minders he could no longer stay.
He would pack his boys and their lethal weapons and leave town.
“Tinubu ordered food and drink for him. He would touch neither. He
however overtime became comfortable in our midst and regaled us with
several anecdotes from his career as a political enforcer. One
particular anecdote stayed locked up in my memory till today because it
was so funny.
“According to Igboho, he went through the tutelage of Chief Adedibu, the
strong man of Ibadan politics. He said he was one of his most reliable
and trusted thugs. At a point in their relationship, Adedibu, he said,
began to suspect he was getting too powerful and independent. Adedibu,
he narrated, then invited him to a meeting and told him he would like
him to run for the chairmanship of a local government.
“He said he knew this was an attempt by Adedibu to bench him and he
therefore told Adedibu that he was not educated, not able to speak
English and could therefore not be chairman of a local government.
“Adedibu, he said, looked at him and barked an order STAND UP! He stood
up. “SIT DOWN!” He sat down. Adedibu then said ‘and you claim not to be
educated. Whatever is left, we shall add it unto you’.
“A week before the election, we had reserved and paid for all the rooms
in all the hotels in Ekiti. The money ran into several millions. Tinubu,
as usual, paid for this. The strategy was to ensure no thug or any
undesirable element had a place to stay in the state. Security men and
INEC officials had to appeal to me, sometimes through Tinubu, to release
some rooms to them to stay. With this, we knew who was staying where.
And we closely monitored them and their activities.
“Thus, when Igboho and his band of 50 thugs arrived in Ado Ekiti that
Friday, we were able to monitor them till they were taken to be
accommodated overnight in Government House due to lack of hotel
accommodation in the state.
“This was the situation when at 2:00 am I did exactly what Igboho
instructed me to do and he and his men fled town. Two hours after
leaving, I got a call from him. They did a head count and found out two
of their men were missing. Interestingly, they found out the two had
gone to town in search of women. Igboho pleaded with me to help retrieve
them and get them out of town the following morning.”