Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu has reaffirmed his desire to contest for the governor of Oyo state at the next elections. Shittu, while featuring on a TV programme explained that he is more of an Ibadan man though he hails from Saki area of Oke-ogun of Oyo State.
According to him, ”to be asked to agitate to become governor just because I am from Oke-ogun will be demeaning to my personality. I see myself as an Oyo State person. Two of my wives are from Ibadan and I have also lived consistently in Ibadan since 1979. I have done my politics, profession, social life here. In fact, most of my children are ‘half Ibadan’ and ‘half Saki’.”
Shittu said the votes from Oke-ogun, where he hails, delivered victory for Governor Abiola Ajimobi, adding that the governor acknowledged the fact when he came on a thank-you tour.
“From the record of the 2015 election, the people of Ibadan didn’t vote for our party largely, it is people from my zone- Oke-ogun zone who voted for the governor which translated to his victory, because the people of Ibadan, in their own wisdom, chose to vote for Sen. Rashidi Ladoja. Of the 10 local government areas in Oke-ogun, it was only in Oorelope LG where APC didn’t win. In the remaining 9 LGs, we defeated all other parties. Iseyin LG came with the highest votes, followed by my own Saki West. And in acknowledgement of the fact that the votes of the people of Oke-ogun brought about his victory, the governor said that after him, it will be the turn of Oke-ogun to produce the governor. He said that affirmatively. That is on record.
“Secondly, as a person, I want to win on the basis of merit because I know there is no standard or criteria which will put down that I am not qualified to be a frontline there. I can easily tell you; there is no political office holder in Oyo State today who is my senior in politics. I have consistently being in active politics since 1979. With due respect to many others who are in political offices, there is none of them who came into politics 10 years after I started. And that should show you that in my own little right, I am a senior.”