The All Progressives Congress (APC), Oyo State chapter, has said that it had been vindicated by the judgment of the Appeal Court which on Friday ruled that former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, had a case to answer in the N4.7 billion case instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly defrauding the state government in shares sales.

The party's interim Publicity Secretary, Hon Dauda Kolawole, said in a statement in Ibadan on Sunday that the Accord Party boss should ask for forgiveness from the people of the state whose common wealth he allegedly siphoned while he was governor.

“The most pitiable part of the whole thing is that this same man stands on the campaign podium to hoodwink gullible people who do not know details of the fraud allegations preferred against him. "Our party-led government which is God-sent and which has brought unprecedented development to Oyo State, has become subject of Ladoja’s campaign of calumny where he manufactures lies and hatred against it. "One would imagine that a man who is at the centre of these lies and who is being accused of monumental fraud, did better while he was in government,” the APC said.

The Appeal Court had in a ruling delivered by Justice Sidi Bage ordered that Ladoja had a case to answer in the charges of money laundering preferred against him. The APC said it maintained that never in the history of the state had any government performed as excellently as the Abiola Ajimobi government.

“The dualization of roads in Oyo State is unprecedented as virtually all entry points into the state capital and all the zones of the state are being dualized, so also is the change of the state from its second dirtiest state in Nigeria status to a fascinating one that is attracting a number of investors.  "Civil servants too had never witnessed a qualitative improvement in their lots as being done by this government, among others,” the APC said.

The party said that the most significant achievement of the Ajimobi government was the peace it had brought to the state, stating that it took a “pedigree of peace” and understanding of modern day art of governance for the present government to re-write the name of the state into a peaceful haven.

“When both Ladoja and Alao-Akala were governors, Oyo State knew no peace. We were all ashamed to be called indigenes of the state as mere mention of the state connoted blood-letting.

"Ladoja’s arrogance and Akala’s thirst for violence ensured that our people were killed in gun crossfire on a daily basis. Since Ajimobi took over, we can now sleep with our two eyes open. That is what is called development. A government that has shown that it has this midas-touch deserves a second term,” the party said.