Communication minister, Barr Adebayo Shittu, is not ready to sheath his sword against Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
The Saki-born politician who described himself as a foundation member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, said that if not for his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari, he would have pursued his case against Ajimobi to a logical conclusion.
OYO INSIGHT recall that Shittu contested the 2015 primaries with Ajimobi and late former governor Lam-Adesina’s son, Dr Ayobami Adesina.
Shittu, who disclosed this on Wednesday while fielding questions from journalists in Abuja, had threatened to work against the APC governorship candidate in the 2019 election, Oloye Bayo Adelabu.
The minister was quoted as saying that “I think it doesn’t arise. I will be a bastard to be defrauded out of a primary process and to simply behave like a slave! It won’t make sense. I have been a foundation member of APC and I have twice aspired to be governor. In 2011, I aspired and I was defeated by the incumbent.
“In 2015, I aspired I was defrauded from the primary at that time and I challenged that process which produced Governor Ajimobi who won for a second term. I went to court; we were still in court when my appointment was announced. That made me to abandon that case and the governor, instead of him to thank his God that he was relieved of the case, started a campaign against my confirmation by the Senate.
“He (Ajimobi) was going around, blackmailing me, urging senators not to confirm me. At the end of the day, common sense prevailed, I was confirmed. And ever since, he has continued to attack me. And what is the basis of the attack? He believes that, which is wrong anyway, that he and his cohorts cannot have a Buhari at the federal level and another Buhari in me at the state level. He told people close to him that if Shittu succeeds, he would be in jail. Why he thinks so, I still don’t know.”
