Exclusive! Former Minister, Adebayo Shittu, Offers Clarifications On Exclusion from Tinubu’s Campaign List

<h4>&NewLine;Exclusive&excl; Former Minister&comma; Adebayo Shittu&comma; Offers Clarifications On Exclusion from Tinubu’s Campaign List<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that following the release of the Presidential Campaign Council list of the ruling All Progressives Congress&comma; APC&comma; in which several notable names of expected party chieftains are missing&comma; former Communication Minister&comma; Adebayo Shittu&comma; whose name is also missing&comma; has offered clarifications saying &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;No cause for alarm&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;Honorable Adebayo Shittu &comma; a 1978 Law graduate and minister of communication from 2015 – 2019 under President Muhammadu Buhari&comma; is a staunch member of the ruling party that has Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as its presidential candidate&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;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&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Thereafter&comma; Adebayo Shittu went to work&period; He formed one of his biggest support groups—Asiwaju Tinubu-Shettima Coalition for Good Governance&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It therefore became a big surprise to many when his name got mission on the presidential campaign team released on Friday&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The 422-man list has names of political heavyweights including APC governors&comma; ministers&comma; lawmakers&comma; ambassadors as well as serving and past public office holders&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In the latest list released by the Presidential Campaign Council Secretary&comma; James Faleke&comma; in Abuja on Friday night&comma; Plateau State Governor&comma; Simon Lalong&comma; retained his position as Director-General just as Deputy Director-General &lpar;Operations&rpar;&comma; Adams Oshiomhole&comma; and Director of Media and Publicity&comma; Bayo Onanuga&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;However&comma; there are shocking omission of party stalwarts&comma; many of whom have been at loggerheads or engaged in cold war with Tinubu over his preference for the contentious Muslim-Muslim ticket&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;They include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo&comma; former Speaker of the House of Representatives&comma; Yakubu Dogara&semi; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation&comma; Babachir Lawal&semi; former Minister of State for Education&comma; Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;But despite defending Tinubu stoutly on all fronts including live political television programmes&comma; Shittu’s sin that necessitated the exclusion of his name from the list remained largely unknown&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;However&comma; loyalists of the APC national leader have always seen the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">former Minister of Communication<&sol;a> as an outsider because he &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;found his way into the party” through Congress for Progressive Change&comma; one of the few political platforms that merged to form the current All Progressives Congress&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Shittu&comma; in a recent interview said&comma; <strong><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Why I think people often regard me as an outsider was probably because I was never a member of Alliance for Democracy&comma; Action Congress or Action Congress of Nigeria&period; Besides&comma; it has not been on record that I have a fight with Tinubu&comma; even though critics who are jealous of my current achievements in the struggle to ensure success for him&comma; out of pettiness and rivalry&comma; have been trying to paint me black and blackmail me with the same slogan of &OpenCurlyQuote;I am one of Tinubu’s enemies&period;’<&sol;em><&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;But I am happy and proud to say that Tinubu&comma; as an experienced politician who knows his onions&comma; has always maintained that Shittu is not an enemy&period; The fact that we never worked together in the past does not translate to being an enemy&period; In any case&comma; he is also somebody who appreciates what I have been doing&comma;”<&sol;em><&sol;strong> he emphasized&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Speaking in an exclusive chat with OpenLife Saturday morning&comma; Adebayo Shittu maintained that <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There is no problem&period; No cause for alarm&period; I have been the Director General of Asiwaju Tinubu-Shettima Coalition for Good Governance&period; What else am I looking for&quest; We have about 400 support groups&period; As I speak to you&comma; I am in Minna&comma; Niger State for the inauguration of 17 support groups for the campaigns&period; We are all working together for the victory of Tinubu and Shettima in the 2023 election&period; No conflict&period; No clash&period; I am doing what I am doing on conviction&period; Infact&comma; on October 5&comma; there will be coming together of all the groups to endorse Tinubu and Shettima&comma;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> he explained&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;