Exclusive! Former Minister, Adebayo Shittu, Offers Clarifications On Exclusion from Tinubu’s Campaign List
OpenLife Nigeria reports that following the release of the Presidential Campaign Council list of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in which several notable names of expected party chieftains are missing, former Communication Minister, Adebayo Shittu, whose name is also missing, has offered clarifications saying “No cause for alarm.”
Honorable Adebayo Shittu , a 1978 Law graduate and minister of communication from 2015 – 2019 under President Muhammadu Buhari, is a staunch member of the ruling party that has Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as its presidential candidate.
His commitment to the party may have been misconstrued at a time and he raised the alarm which was promptly addressed at the Abuja convention ground that produced Tinubu as a candidate.
Thereafter, Adebayo Shittu went to work. He formed one of his biggest support groups—Asiwaju Tinubu-Shettima Coalition for Good Governance.
It therefore became a big surprise to many when his name got mission on the presidential campaign team released on Friday.
The 422-man list has names of political heavyweights including APC governors, ministers, lawmakers, ambassadors as well as serving and past public office holders.
In the latest list released by the Presidential Campaign Council Secretary, James Faleke, in Abuja on Friday night, Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, retained his position as Director-General just as Deputy Director-General (Operations), Adams Oshiomhole, and Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga.
However, there are shocking omission of party stalwarts, many of whom have been at loggerheads or engaged in cold war with Tinubu over his preference for the contentious Muslim-Muslim ticket.
They include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal; former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.
But despite defending Tinubu stoutly on all fronts including live political television programmes, Shittu’s sin that necessitated the exclusion of his name from the list remained largely unknown.
However, loyalists of the APC national leader have always seen the former Minister of Communication as an outsider because he “found his way into the party” through Congress for Progressive Change, one of the few political platforms that merged to form the current All Progressives Congress.
Shittu, in a recent interview said, “Why I think people often regard me as an outsider was probably because I was never a member of Alliance for Democracy, Action Congress or Action Congress of Nigeria. Besides, it has not been on record that I have a fight with Tinubu, even though critics who are jealous of my current achievements in the struggle to ensure success for him, out of pettiness and rivalry, have been trying to paint me black and blackmail me with the same slogan of ‘I am one of Tinubu’s enemies.’
“But I am happy and proud to say that Tinubu, as an experienced politician who knows his onions, has always maintained that Shittu is not an enemy. The fact that we never worked together in the past does not translate to being an enemy. In any case, he is also somebody who appreciates what I have been doing,” he emphasized.
Speaking in an exclusive chat with OpenLife Saturday morning, Adebayo Shittu maintained that “There is no problem. No cause for alarm. I have been the Director General of Asiwaju Tinubu-Shettima Coalition for Good Governance. What else am I looking for? We have about 400 support groups. As I speak to you, I am in Minna, Niger State for the inauguration of 17 support groups for the campaigns. We are all working together for the victory of Tinubu and Shettima in the 2023 election. No conflict. No clash. I am doing what I am doing on conviction. Infact, on October 5, there will be coming together of all the groups to endorse Tinubu and Shettima,” he explained.
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