Adams Oshiomhole Stabbed Me After I Recommended Him To Buhari – Adebayo Shittu.

Shittu & Oshiomhole.

The Minister of Communications, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, during the week declared that his disqualification from the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State as stab on the back by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole given the role he played in the emergence. Shittu, who spoke at an interactive session with the journalist in Abuja on issues affecting the party, his botched governorship ambition and re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari, revealed that he once recommended Oshiomhole to President Muhammadu Buhari for the position of a Political Adviser. 

The minister was disqualified from the Oyo State APC governorship primary for evading the one year mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). He said of his relationship with the APC national chairman: “Oshiomhole was my friend and I had confidence in him. Today, I can say he is my former friend. 

I was the first person to tell Oshiomhole that I will talk to Mr. President to appoint him as Political Adviser and I did deliver that to the President. “Even though he never got appointed, that must have influenced his current position. The day we were screened, I spent almost one hour in his office. Human beings forget that life does not begin and end with them. I am lucky that he gave reason for my disqualification, so I have something to take to court and to prove that he was wrong. “They think that one is so daft that they will dangle the issue of anti-party. 

You must put it on record that I was a member of the House of Assembly between 1979 and 1983.” Shittu also said that it would be a disservice to his person or any other governorship aspirant that was cheated in the primaries to support the party’s governorship candidate in his state. 

The minister added that he has trust in the judiciary to retrieve his governorship mandate in Oyo State. On Buhari’s second term bid, he said Nigerians will re-elect the President not basically because of the party, but due the good works the President is doing. 

He also used the opportunity to disclaim reports that he had closed the campaign office he opened for the re-election of President Buhari in Oyo State. According to him, it was not abandoning the Buhari re-election campaign that made him to close the office, but because the cost of the rented property was high and that he can no longer afford it. He, however, stated that plans have been concluded to inaugurate coalition for Buhari/Osinbajo reelection campaign in Oyo State. 

His words: “With due respect, I think that idea that I will stop to campaign for Buhari is nonsensical. I was the first cabinet member, who started the campaign for Buhari’s re-election. I am still a part of this government; I am still a part of APC. In fact, I am a foundation member of the APC and my interaction and relationship with President Buhari isn’t just starting with APC. 

“I was his party’s governorship candidate in Oyo State, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011, and he continues to earn my respect and adoration because he is one president, who must either be first or be the second to voluntarily reduce his salary by half. I think the first Nigerian leader who did that was General Murtala Muhammed. “So, if he would reduce his legitimate salary by half so that the Nigerian state can utilise it for the good of this country, I still believe in him. So, why would I close down my campaign office? I think it was a mischief. 

“We had a rented apartment; the house in question wasn’t my property. We rented it and we simply couldn’t afford to sustain the rent and the landlord was impatient with us and said we either pay or get out of the place and we took the most sensible decision by vacating that premises. 

“We are in the process of looking for another building, which would be used for President Buhari second term in office campaign. Hopefully, we would be able to get something cheaper than we had. So, it isn’t true to say that I was no more campaigning. It was the handwork of mischief makers and I think the media, a section of it can’t be exonerated from fake news. Some put the story out without getting my own side of the story. That means the story was self-serving and politically motivated, it was a hack publication.” 

Asked if he will campaign for the APC governorship candidate in Oyo State, Adebayo Adelabu, Shittu said: “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 Abiola Ajimobi, who won for a second term. “I went to court and 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 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 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.”