Ajimobi, Shittu rift deepens as 2019 approaches
From Jeremiah Oke, Ibadan
The feud between the governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, is connected with the 2019 governorship election in the state.
The crisis between the duo could be traced to the time of merger of major political parties that metamorphosed to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Shortly after the merger, Adebayo Shittu of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) challenged the sharing formula of executive positions of the APC in court, claiming that Ajimobi violated the agreement of the national secretariat of the party.
He explained that the party had agreed to accommodate members of all the parties that came together to form the APC, regardless of the size and performance of the party in the past. But the governor, according to reports, said contributions of other parties were insignificant when compared to the strength and contributions of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which was the ruling party in Oyo State.
It took the intervention of a delegation from the national secretariat, led by the late James Ocholi, to appeal to the minister of communication to settle the case out of court.
The rift became more pronounced when President Buhari announced Shittu as the nominee from Oyo State for a slot in the Federal Executive Council (FEC). Ajimobi allegedly did everything possible to stall the confirmation of Shittu as minister from Oyo State. Open letters and petitions were written to discredit the Saki-born lawyer, but he eventually sailed through.
Since he became a minister, Shittu, who is seen as a grassroots politician, has donated boreholes across the state. He also donated two buses to the state chapter of the APC. Though people in the state see him as a religious bigot, however, his secretary over the years is a Christian. In many fora, Shittu had said the only financial backing he had was his salaries and travelling allowances.
In his petition to the president and major stakeholders of the party, dated December 18, 2017, Shittu claimed that his offence to the governor, which culminated in the demolition of his computer-based test centre under construction, by the agents of the state in his Saki country home, was as a result of his intention to take over from the governor.
The minister said he decided to draw the attention of the national leadership of the party to the alleged manipulation of the governor on time in order to save the party from total disintegration.
He further stated that when it was clear to him that the governor was harbouring some form of animosity against him, he arranged a meeting at the Oyo State Government House in Abuja, where two of them met to resolve all existing misgivings, adding that the governor assured that every differences were resolved.
He noted that just a day after the meeting, the computer-based centre, which was part of the issues discussed with the governor, was demolished.
He said efforts made to draw the attention of the governor did not yield results as he neither picked his calls nor replied to his text message.
Shittu further claimed that based on the information available to him, the governor’s grouse against him was because he frustrated his attempts to remove the chairman of the APC in Ido Local Government Area of the state, Pastor Akintokun.
“The governor felt the chairman had allowed me to have too much access to the political apparatus in the local government,’’ he stated.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that, to frustrate his gubernatorial ambition, the minister was denied access to the former governor of the state, Otunba Adebayo AlaoAkala when he visited him in his Ogbomoso country home.
Also, Governor Ajimobi and state officials of the APC stayed away from the commissioning of the South-West zonal office of the Buhari/Osinbajo Dynamic Support Group, organised by the minister, and set up a sensitization rally on the forthcoming local government election in the state.
It would be recalled that few days to the event, the minister had ‘reported’ Ajimobi to President Buhari, the national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over what he called the Ajimobi’s ‘highhandedness’ in running the affairs of the party.
As a result of the allegation against Ajimobi, caretaker chairmen of the 18 local governments and council development areas in Oke-Ogun, where Shittu hails from, said his action was injurious to the APC’.
Speaking on the recent crisis between the minister and the governor, the immediate past chief whip of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Abiodun AdigunHammed, condemned the action of the minister. He said Shittu was economical with the truth on the issue of land dispute between him and his kinsmen in Saki.
Adigun said the defection of former Governor Adebayo Alao Akala and former Senate leader and other notable leaders of opposition party in the state, was a threat to the minister’s governorship ambition. He said that was why he was attacking personalities in the state.
Adigun noted that if the minister was popular, he should wait till the time of primaries and slug it out with others at the poll rather than destroying the governor, who has been managing the affairs of the party in the last seven years.
The former lawmaker explained that the fact that many leaders of the APC in the region were absent at the inauguration of South-West office of Buhari/ Osinbajo 2019 by the minister was a sign of failure.
At a press conference in Ibadan recently, leaders and elders of Saki, under the umbrella of Saki Parapo, an apex socio-cultural group, led by its national president, Dr. Sule Lawani, gave an insight into the issue of the land dispute between the minister and the governor.
Those at the press conference are: Leader of Saki Parapo in diaspora, Alhaji Salami Lasisi Oloba; the Akeweje of Saki, Chief R.A Akande; chairman of Saki West Local Government Area, Alhaji Kareem Adegoke; chairman of Wewe LCDA, Hon. Olaniyi Olawuwo; national president of Saki Parapo, Dr. Sule Lawani; former commissioner of police, Alhaji S.O Lawal (retd); Mr. Akintola Gbadegesin.
Chairman of Saki West Local Government, Alhaji Kareem Adegoke, who spoke on behalf of other leaders, advised the minister not to allow his personal interest override the interest of the entire people of Saki land, adding that he was trying to use his position to oppress his people.
He said the controversial land was initially allotted to a fire service station, with the necessary documents, before the Saki Parapo made a mistake to give out the same land to the minister.
He further said that when the Saki Parapo discovered the mix-up, they approached the local government to get another portion of land for the minister because the land was at the centre of the town, which is good enough for a fire service station, but the minister rejected the new land.
He denied the allegation by the minister that he had erected a structure on the land before the fire service management started their project.
Speaking further, Chief Raimi Akande, who said the minister was his direct relative, said the elders were not in the press conference to destroy or blackmail him for any reason. He added that if the minister’s ambition was to become the governor of the state, the entire Saki sons and daughters would gladly support him if he could get the ticket of his party in 2019.
He said leaders in Saki land wanted the minister to be magnanimous about the case of the land because the elders had directed the council chairman to give him another land, which he had done.
But in a telephone interview, the minister dismissed the allegations against him, saying he received an award from his kinsmen, Saki Parapo, a day before the press conference.
Reacting to the allegation that his ambition is the genesis of the crisis in the state chapter of the party, the minister said he was eminently qualified to govern the state, having practised law for 38 years.
He noted that he was in the State House of Assembly in the Second Republic with the governor’s father. He added that the court verdict of 25th of this month will determine who owns the controversial piece of land.
The spokesperson of the party in the state, Olawale Sadare, urged its national secretariat to mediate between the governor and the minister and resolve the crisis. He said the party had no official comment on the matter.