One-time Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja has asserted that former President, Olusegun Obasanjo numbers among the greatest leaders to have ever been produced in Nigeria, adding that the former President’s voice is presently the number one in Africa.

Disclosing this at his Bodija residence in Ibadan during an interaction with newsmen, the governorship candidate of the Accord Party, AP, in the last election in Oyo State was quick to point out that he is not Obasanjo’s friend as they “cannot sit down together for one hour without fighting.”

Noting that there has so far not been any Nigerian that has attained the height of ruling the country for almost 12 years like Obasanjo, he reasoned that there must be something good in him to have attained such feat.

Ladoja noted, “Since he (Obasanjo) became Head of State in 1976, he has always had a hand in who becomes the president of Nigeria. It was said he had a hand in how Alhaji Shehu Shagari became the president of Nigeria in 1979. After Shagari, the next one we had was when he became president in 1999.

“Look at this paradox, Obasanjo became president 20 years after he was said to have had a hand in how Shagari became president. He also had hand in how the late Alhaji Umar Yar’Adua became president in 2007. He also had hand in how Goodluck Jonathan became president and he had hand in how Muhammadu Buhari became president.

“Tell me if there is any Nigerian that can be said to be greater than that. Obasanjo’s voice in Africa today is about number one. When he talks, everybody knows that Obasanjo has talked. We should not minimise the fact that God decides what he wants to do. I am not a pastor, but I believe that God has a hand in everything that is happening in Nigeria, and even everything that is happening in the world.

“If he calls the United States President, Barack Obama, he doesn’t need to say who is Obasanjo? The world leaders know him. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban ki Moon, knows him. He may not be the most righteous but he has been the one that has been so favoured. Buhari became President, essentially because of the vote of the North. Obasanjo became president, not because of the votes of the West, it was not the vote of his own people.

“So, me and my brothers (Obasanjo) are not good friends o. We cannot sit down together for one hour without fighting. But it cannot be denied that so far he is the biggest Nigerian and as of today, the greatest African after Nelson Mandela, who is no more.

”Whether the Yoruba accepts him as leader or not, huh? Recently, he told me that he is not the leader of the Yorubas, but of Nigeria.”

The former Governor, however, pointed out that Obasanjo cannot be said to be the most righteous person, recalling that, “they told him before (he became president) that he could not become a deacon in the Baptist Church because of many vices he was said to have perpetrated. Yet, God said this is the person that is going to be your leader.

“So, whether we like it or not – luckily Yoruba respect two things, age and position,” he stated.