Aspirant expresses hope for Gov. Ajimobi’s support

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April 11, 2018 3:25 PM

The minister gave this assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

The embattled Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu on Wednesday said that Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State would support him in his bid to become the state governor.

According to the 2019 election time table by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the governorship and state assembly elections are expected to hold on Saturday March 2, 2019.

However, the supremacy battle between the state governor and the minister on who controls the structure of the state chapter of the APC ahead of the poll has continued to deepen.

Shittu said that he believed that only God had a final say in every human endeavour and being members of the same party, he was sure that Ajimobi would work with him in the 2019 poll.

“People talk of power of incumbency as if a governor is God. What religious books teach us is that it is only God, who puts people in power; it is only God who removes them from power.

“So if a governor, no matter how super he may be, decides on something and God decides otherwise, whose view will triumph?

“The governor is my brother; I don’t have any problem with him but I hope whenever you see him you ask what problem he has with me.

“As far as I am concerned, as members of the same party, whether we like it or not, we must work together.

“And I want to assure you that the governor will support me sooner than later,” he said.

He described himself as the most experienced and qualified aspirant among other aspirants jostling for the number one seat in the state, and that made him to have a better chance.

His words: “By the grace of God, I will be governor of Oyo State. Who among the aspirants has the experience that I have have?

“I have been a member of the state House of Assembly for four years in the second republic.

“I am most qualified, I have been a commissioner twice; one as Information Commissioner, another time as Attorney General, being minister now with experience of two and a half years.

“These experiences you cannot buy them from the market. I am more than well equipped to run the state in a different manner.

“I was at the feet of the late sage of Nigerian politics, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, learning politics; I want to implement his ideals in order to bring about a refreshing life for the people of Oyo State.”

On the controversy that surrounds the sack of his aides, he said it was disheartening that his former aides allowed themselves to be used by political rivals in the contest for Oyo governorship race.

The minister said that he had filed a libel action against one of the former aides, Mr Victor Oluwadamilare, on Tuesday, April 10, 2018.

“Their blackmails will not succeed; I remain unperturbed; I don’t start a fight but I don’t run away from any because my hands are clean,” he said.

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