THE All Progressives Congress (APC), Oyo State has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to have a re-think on the choice of a former Attorney General of the state, Mr Adebayo Shittu, as the state’s nominee on the ministerial list.
The party’s state Central Working Committee (CWC) after a meeting, at the weekend, issued a statement signed by the party’s state chairman and secretary, Chief Akin Oke and Honourable Mojeed Olaoya, respectively and titled ‘Marginalisation of Oyo State in political Appointments.’
The party through the statement addressed to President Buhari through the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, expressed its dissatisfaction with recent appointments made by the President, noting that despite its contribution, the state has been unjustly treated in the scheme of things.
According to the tone of the statement, the party made particular reference to the choice of a former governorship aspirant from the state, Mr Adebayo Shittu, on the ministerial list sent to the Senate President last Wednesday.
“We like to appreciate the fact that going by the 2015 presidential election results, Oyo State performed creditably in terms of contribution of votes to the overall success of our party.
“Surprisingly however, our performance has not been commensurately rewarded at the national level. For instance, Your Excellency, the current power matrix shows that the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives hails from Osun State, while the currently appointed Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue is a Lagosian. At the senate and House of Representatives, no lawmaker from Oyo State heads any of the committees that had so far been constituted. In fact not even any of the visible party positions nationally despite the fact that Oyo State is the political capital of the south-west.
“The recent media reports of the ministerial nominee from Oyo State in person of Barrister Adebayo Shittu have further compounded our political challenges this is due to his unacceptability and rejection by the vast majority of our people,” the statement read in part.
The statement explained the reasons for the rejection of Shittu to include that, “He is not known to be a team player. Despite the fact that he and his cohorts were fully accommodated in the APC, he exhibited an uncooperative attitude in his relationship with the party and its leadership, which was uncalled for. It is curious to note that Mr Shittu refused bluntly to participate in all party activities including campaigns except on one occasion of the presidential rally in Ibadan. Till date he has refused to participate in party activities or feature in any governmental programmes at all levels.”
In a related development, a non-governmental group, Oke Ogun APC Youth Vanguards, Oyo State, also called on President Buhari to remove the name of the state nominee-Mr Adebayo Shittu from the list, accusing him of anti-party activities.
The group in a statement signed by its president and secretary, Abdulraman Oyefeso and Moses Adeola, respectively, and made available to Nigerian Tribune, made series of allegations against the choice of Shittu, stating their reasons to reject his nomination.
Oke Ogun APC Youth Vanguards which claimed it is made up of professional youths from Shittu’s Constituency alleged that the former attorney general of the state alleged that he “persistently engaged in anti- party activities such as court cases against the leadership of the APC in Oyo State in the last two years just to score cheap political points.”
They also listed among other reasons that the former governorship aspirant under the platform of APC “has little or no electoral value in Oyo State.”
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