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In this interview with EVEREST AMAEFULE, Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, says that the All Progressives Congress is set to lose the 2019 governorship election in Oyo State except it reverses his disqualification and asks him to be the party’s candidate in the election.
Looking at recent events, you took your party to court; it appears you are planning to defect. Are you planning to defect?
No, I will not defect. I have a divine bond with Mr. President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). Even as a foundation member of the All Progressives Congress, there has been enough provocation for me to defect but my bond, I believe, is made in heaven with my leader and mentor – the person I am trying to imitate in terms of his incorruptibility, patriotism, and commitment to getting things done properly and in terms of respect for the rule of law. I will not defect. Even though other political parties have offered me carrots, inviting me to come and be their party’s candidate, I remain steadfast in the APC.
I believe that wherever injustice surfaces, it is part of our binding duty to fight it to a halt. You will recall that on few occasions when Mr. President did not get justice from the political field, he went to court even if he didn’t still get justice from the court at that time. He remained steadfast and at the end of the day, he got justice from the public who eventually voted for him in 2015 in such a way that left no person in doubt as to his victory.
If you say you are not defecting, do you think you can still maintain a good relationship with the party and party chieftains after taking the party to court?
What do you mean by party? What is called a party? Is it not an agglomeration of all of us? Is it not an agglomeration of all members of the party? If some people in the leadership of the party are not doing things right and have also refused to set effective machinery for peace, we go to court. The court will help us to do things right.
So, I think in compliance with the rule of law; I have submitted my dispute with the leadership of the party to the court which is mandated to look into all these things and to further right what should be ordered right.
I want to assure you that I will not lose in court because the facts are so glaring. One of the mistakes that the party leadership made in disqualifying me was that they hinged it on the fact that I did not present a National Youth Service Corps certificate of participation or exemption.
The issue of NYSC is a matter that has to do with the law. What does the law say? If you want to even contest the Presidency; you don’t have to have NYSC certificate. If you want to contest for any position, the certificate is not part of the requirements. There have been several court judgements to that effect.
So, you cannot introduce into the law what is not part of the law. So, on the basis of that; I decided to challenge that decision to disqualify me. This is because that disqualification was certainly a fraudulent one.
The fight initially was about whether primaries should be by direct or indirect vote. In all the South-West states, they ordered direct primary except in Oyo State. So, the question is – why the exception? The exception was because they knew that if primaries were conducted by direct voting, I would certainly defeat any other candidate. So they decided to use indirect method and I challenged that in court – that you cannot use indirect method because those who would serve as delegates were already before the court because they were elected fraudulently.
If they got elected fraudulently, how do you make them the ‘electoral college’ to decide whether I would be the governorship candidate of my state or not? When they saw that we were going to win in court, they introduced this lifeless issue of non-participation in NYSC as a condition. This NYSC issue is not part of constitutional requirement. It is not part of the requirements of the APC constitution and it was never advertised as one of the conditions for anybody to buy forms, either for showing interest or for the actual nomination. So, where did it coming from suddenly?
If you are saying that the law does not require you to present NYSC certificate in order to contest an election, the law requires that you have it before you hold an office. So, if you are going to contest, is it not normal to assume that you shold hold one?
Holding an office is different from civil service office. With regards to political offices, you don’t have to have it. That is one. This is a matter that the court had already decided on in 1979 when I won election into the House of Assembly. My opponent at that time went to court to challenge my election and the court decided that I needed not to have an NYSC certificate of whatever colouration. And in any case, even if the court had not decided; it is the same provision of the law that guided participation in election in 1979 that still exists in the current constitution. Of course, these issues have to be submitted to the court. So, I don’t need to address them now at this stage. We will meet in court. We will find out where they got their own law from.
I asked, what happens if you lose in court?
I am telling you I won’t lose. I mean, it is so simple. It is as easy as one plus one equals to two.
Let me put it this way; will you in the future be submitting yourself for service?
That has become history. Even the NYSC did not fulfil the requirements that it should fulfil to make me serve. Again, I will not go into that because that is part of what we submitted to the court. So, forget about my service. At age 65, forget about my service.
You were also saying that NYSC did not deploy you. What did you do when you saw that they did not deploy you?
We will sort out that in court. I will not argue my case on this platform. What I will argue in court, I will not argue it here; otherwise, there would have been no need for me to go to court.
You said that you have been provoked several times in the APC. Can you tell us how you have been provoked?
I will tell you. We did party state congresses about four months ago. A faction which never bought nomination forms was recognised over and above our own faction of the party which purchased 9,700 forms to fill all the positions.
The Governor Abiola Ajimobi-led faction didn’t buy forms. So when the party did not recognise us, we went to court. The matter is still in court. That in itself is an act of provocation which has led to more than 40 per cent of the membership of our party in Oyo State exiting the party to go to either the African Democratic Congress or Action Democratic Party. Some of them even went to the Peoples Democratic Party. That was the first provocation. I refused to leave because I believe in fighting from within. Again, we have this primary imbroglio. We were to contest. We were asked to purchase forms. NYSC was not and could never have been a precondition. After we purchased the form and after I had been cleared, somebody came to say that Shittu had been disqualified because he didn’t participate in NYSC? Who told him that is the law?
I am wondering whether it is the legal adviser that didn’t give him the right advice or whether the national chairman decided to go on frolics of his own. One of the two must have happened. Again, that was another provocation which made me to go to court. So, these are provocations. They are trying to force me out of the APC but I will not allow them the pleasure of a smile or joy. I will not leave the APC. I will remain in the party and fight for justice, using the court and I am confident that the courts are as intelligent and are as firm and courageous as they could ever have been.
So at what point will you consider leaving the party?
It doesn’t arise. It is not possible; it doesn’t arise. I am not a young man in politics. So, the issue of not knowing what I am doing does not arise at this stage. I have told you my position.
Everyone has a breaking point; at what point will you say, I will not take it any longer?
I am as strong as the rock of Gibraltar; I am also as constant as the Northern star. If I am in my father’s house and a usurper comes and tries to drive me out, will I not fight until death meets me there in defence of my rightful property? I am a member of this party; I am a foundation member. I was also part of the team that formulated the current constitution of the party. Besides, I have told you about my commitment to the ideals of the party which President Buhari symbolises.
What if the president leaves the party?
Do you conceive in your wildest imagination that as leader of the household called APC, he would leave? For who? He had left one or two parties in the past.
That was because there was injustice against him then. He decided to leave and form another party. But I believe he is here to stay. I believe that there is nothing that is insurmountable within the APC to warrant his leaving the party. As the sitting president, everything politically or otherwise, gravitates towards him.
Given your close association with the President, the leader of the party; why would you be treated the way you claim to have been treated?
The President is not one person who believes in preferential treatment. He is one person who allows the party machinery to move as it should. He believes that he ought to give people who have been given responsibilities all that the things required by way of support and by way of assistance. But he wields the big stick at the appropriate time, and if necessary. I want to assure you that in my case, the matter is not beyond me to get justice.
So, at what point would you appeal for the President’s intervention?
I don’t have to appeal to Mr. President. I have informed the President that I am already in court. The President had himself had to go to court when he didn’t get justice. So, I am already taking after him.
Are you suggesting that the party machinery in the state has been hijacked?
It has been hijacked. Why is it that as a leader of the party in a state, why would you witness all those party activists in the Action Congress of Nigeria, who worked for your success in 2011 exit the party? Why would the leader of the party in Oyo State watch while more than 40 per cent of the party members, particularly, those who helped to win elections in 2015 exit the party for other parties? His case is about impunity. His case is about dictatorship. His case is about someone who is greedy for power and who wants to have power exclusively. He doesn’t see it as Yoruba people would say, one man does not make a market. We have to challenge him. All the impunity must come to an end sooner than later. All the dictatorship must come to an end. He does not care whether the party wins or loses. All that he is interested in is that he is the only lord of the Manor. However, the APC is our common patrimony. We will ensure that we use the proper machinery of the law to get him to abide by righteousness – political righteousness, moral righteousness and social righteousness.
You seem to be overstating the fact when you say that more than 40 per cent of the members of the party in the state have left the party.
I have said it many times; in 2015, when the party was one solid body, we defeated the next candidate by about 40,000 votes. Now that the party is divided from up to down, how does anybody seem to be confident that the party would still win when more than 40 per cent of the people have left if not up to 50 per cent? When we had the congresses, it was very obvious that the unity forum which I was one of the leaders multiplied their number. Most of us have now left except a few of us that are remaining.
At the end of the day, there will be election and I am confident that the Independent National Electoral Commission of today will conduct free, fair and acceptable elections which should make it very impossible for anybody to say that he can rig.
What you are saying is that the party would lose elections in the state.
If things are not done rightly and particularly if I don’t get the ticket; I am almost sure of that. I am the only one who can serve as bridge between those in the party now and those that have left. I am the only one who can bring all of these people who left back to the party as one solid team again. The party needs me, as the one who enjoys the respect of those who have left, to bring about victory. If they doubt me and fail to do what is right, we keep our fingers crossed.
Some others may consider you as a fringe leader.
You may call me a fringe leader, even though I have been in politics for close to 40 years. I got into politics in 1979 when I was already a qualified lawyer. That is about 40 years. As a member of the House of Assembly – with all due respect – the father of Governor Ajimobi was my colleague in the House of Assembly. You want to ask, where was Ajimobi then? He was still in school. Twice I had been a commissioner. I have lived all my life in Oyo State.
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I have occupied several other positions – politically, religiously, culturally and otherwise. I have practised my law in Oyo State and today, I am the minister representing Oyo State. If with all these achievements, you consider me as a fringe leader; how many political activists in Oyo State have my credentials? Everyone can deceive themselves with whatever description of me. The people in Oyo State know better. And they will take their destiny in their own hands.
How come you have held all these positions and offices without presenting NYSC discharge or exemption certificate?
I think we have gone beyond that. I will not go back to that question. I told you that in 1979, when I contested election and won, somebody went to court on the allegation that I didn’t have NYSC certificate and the court had the case thrown out. In any case, the matter has been submitted before the court.
I was not even talking about the House of Assembly. Beyond being a member of the House, when commissioners and ministers are screened; NYSC certificate is one of the things they look at.
In which law did you find that? There is no law which requires you to produce an NYSC certificate. The constitution does not ask you to produce it. The party does not request you to produce it. I have been singled out.
Even Ajimobi does not have an NYSC certificate. And yet today, they have allowed him to emerge even though fraudulently as the senatorial candidate of the party for Oyo South. He does not have a certificate and the party does not ask him to produce it; the same issue I was purportedly disqualified. That is double standard.
You want to ask: why are Ajimobi and his co-travellers afraid of my emergence as the governorship candidate and as the governor of the state? On the grapevine, I hear that Ajimobi believes that Adebayo Shittu is another Buhari. If he succeeds to become governor, he – Ajimobi – would be in jail. That is his belief. I don’t know where he got that belief from. Because of that belief and pathological fear, he is trying to controvert my right and ensure that I don’t advance politically, forgetting that God is the ultimate decider of people’s faith.
Finally on this NYSC stuff, it appears that the love of office lured you to shun going for service.
Except you say that everybody has this love. Yoruba people have an adage that says that the child who is smart (who will be great) is known from the beginning. I had the uncommon privilege of having met Chief Obafemi Awolowo when I was still a student. I listened to him and he inspired me and challenged me indirectly. I took up the challenge and I made a success of it. God did not create all of us equal. For me, it is not about love or greed for office. It is all about passion for service. You know my background. I come from a thoroughly backward background but God made me smart.
While my peers were still grovelling as to go after service, I was serving in the House. It was not an appointment. It was an election. There was a primary election also. I defeated a senior lawyer at that time in the primary. I vied, got elected and became the youngest member of the Oyo State House of Assembly. I also became the most active member of the House of Assembly in terms of legislative activism; in terms of the number of motions I put in; in terms of other extra parliamentary activities arising from my membership of the House.
In Oyo State, at 6pm when the parliamentary news would be aired on the television, everybody would make sure they got home early enough to listen to ‘From the Parliament’ because they knew that something new would be coming from the mouth of Adebayo Shittu. It was not about greed then. How much were we paid then – N1, 000 per month. Even that N1, 000 was not for me alone. It was for everybody who came through my path, who needed my assistance or support. That attribute has remained with me till today. So, it was not about money.
So, what if young people follow in your footsteps and begin to shun national service?
We should treat case on its own merits. The laws are very clear. The obligation of NYSC is there. It is not for me to say that now. One obligation comes before the other. In any case, if people who go into police, into the army, into the Customs, into all of these; even if they are coming in as recruits, are excluded from service. If you are in the House to represent your community; should it not be regarded as a higher form of service?
Those ones are specifically excluded from service. What you are saying is not in the law.
What is in the law? I said I do not want to argue on the points now.
There was a news report that President Buhari was expecting your resignation.
I don’t know where they got that news from.
A lot people are also expecting that you should follow in the footsteps of your former colleague in the cabinet, Kemi Adeosun, instead of heaping a moral burden on the government.
Is my case the same as that of Kemi Adeosun? It is completely different. Kemi Adeosun, unfortunately, had someone procure for her a forged NYSC exemption certificate, which she didn’t need anyway. She didn’t need it. I have not presented any forged certificate. It is like light and darkness; you don’t compare the two.
So with these controversies, you don’t think you should resign and not burden the party.
There is no controversy. My traducers: I will not make them happy. I will not put smile on their faces. They will continue to lament and lament and lament and look at me climb up politically. So, as long as I am concerned, I don’t know where they got their story from; that the President was expecting me to resign. Resign for what? Did I commit a crime? I plead not guilty to such charge from any quarters.
Enough of politics; you have been a Minister of Communications for about three years now. What do you consider as the highpoints of your tenure?
I will give you a symbolism about the highpoints of my job. When I was appointed a minister, stakeholders in the industry protested. They could not imagine how a lawyer, who is not an ICT person, would be asked to come and head an ICT ministry.
One and half years later, I was given an award of Fellow of the Nigerian Computer Society, which is an umbrella organisation of the ICT industry. That should speak volumes about this. By the grace of God; today, I am a Fellow of the Nigerian Computer Society. I have provided leadership to the industry and stakeholders are completely happy with the leadership that I have provided. Remember that this ministry is a ministry charged with the responsibility for providing policy, regulation, monitoring and supervision for all other agencies under the ministry. We are the mother ministry for agencies like the Nigerian Communications Commission; National Information Technology Development Agency; Nigerian Postal Service; NigComSat; Galaxy Backbone and the Universal Access Provision Fund.
So, it is my responsibility to ensure that they are operating well and servicing the industry well. I can beat my chest and say, there has not been any serious protestation from any quarters since I came on board. (Punch)
Looking at recent events, you took your party to court; it appears you are planning to defect. Are you planning to defect?
No, I will not defect. I have a divine bond with Mr. President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). Even as a foundation member of the All Progressives Congress, there has been enough provocation for me to defect but my bond, I believe, is made in heaven with my leader and mentor – the person I am trying to imitate in terms of his incorruptibility, patriotism, and commitment to getting things done properly and in terms of respect for the rule of law. I will not defect. Even though other political parties have offered me carrots, inviting me to come and be their party’s candidate, I remain steadfast in the APC.
I believe that wherever injustice surfaces, it is part of our binding duty to fight it to a halt. You will recall that on few occasions when Mr. President did not get justice from the political field, he went to court even if he didn’t still get justice from the court at that time. He remained steadfast and at the end of the day, he got justice from the public who eventually voted for him in 2015 in such a way that left no person in doubt as to his victory.
If you say you are not defecting, do you think you can still maintain a good relationship with the party and party chieftains after taking the party to court?
What do you mean by party? What is called a party? Is it not an agglomeration of all of us? Is it not an agglomeration of all members of the party? If some people in the leadership of the party are not doing things right and have also refused to set effective machinery for peace, we go to court. The court will help us to do things right.
So, I think in compliance with the rule of law; I have submitted my dispute with the leadership of the party to the court which is mandated to look into all these things and to further right what should be ordered right.
I want to assure you that I will not lose in court because the facts are so glaring. One of the mistakes that the party leadership made in disqualifying me was that they hinged it on the fact that I did not present a National Youth Service Corps certificate of participation or exemption.
The issue of NYSC is a matter that has to do with the law. What does the law say? If you want to even contest the Presidency; you don’t have to have NYSC certificate. If you want to contest for any position, the certificate is not part of the requirements. There have been several court judgements to that effect.
So, you cannot introduce into the law what is not part of the law. So, on the basis of that; I decided to challenge that decision to disqualify me. This is because that disqualification was certainly a fraudulent one.
The fight initially was about whether primaries should be by direct or indirect vote. In all the South-West states, they ordered direct primary except in Oyo State. So, the question is – why the exception? The exception was because they knew that if primaries were conducted by direct voting, I would certainly defeat any other candidate. So they decided to use indirect method and I challenged that in court – that you cannot use indirect method because those who would serve as delegates were already before the court because they were elected fraudulently.
If they got elected fraudulently, how do you make them the ‘electoral college’ to decide whether I would be the governorship candidate of my state or not? When they saw that we were going to win in court, they introduced this lifeless issue of non-participation in NYSC as a condition. This NYSC issue is not part of constitutional requirement. It is not part of the requirements of the APC constitution and it was never advertised as one of the conditions for anybody to buy forms, either for showing interest or for the actual nomination. So, where did it coming from suddenly?
If you are saying that the law does not require you to present NYSC certificate in order to contest an election, the law requires that you have it before you hold an office. So, if you are going to contest, is it not normal to assume that you shold hold one?
Holding an office is different from civil service office. With regards to political offices, you don’t have to have it. That is one. This is a matter that the court had already decided on in 1979 when I won election into the House of Assembly. My opponent at that time went to court to challenge my election and the court decided that I needed not to have an NYSC certificate of whatever colouration. And in any case, even if the court had not decided; it is the same provision of the law that guided participation in election in 1979 that still exists in the current constitution. Of course, these issues have to be submitted to the court. So, I don’t need to address them now at this stage. We will meet in court. We will find out where they got their own law from.
I asked, what happens if you lose in court?
I am telling you I won’t lose. I mean, it is so simple. It is as easy as one plus one equals to two.
Let me put it this way; will you in the future be submitting yourself for service?
That has become history. Even the NYSC did not fulfil the requirements that it should fulfil to make me serve. Again, I will not go into that because that is part of what we submitted to the court. So, forget about my service. At age 65, forget about my service.
You were also saying that NYSC did not deploy you. What did you do when you saw that they did not deploy you?
We will sort out that in court. I will not argue my case on this platform. What I will argue in court, I will not argue it here; otherwise, there would have been no need for me to go to court.
You said that you have been provoked several times in the APC. Can you tell us how you have been provoked?
I will tell you. We did party state congresses about four months ago. A faction which never bought nomination forms was recognised over and above our own faction of the party which purchased 9,700 forms to fill all the positions.
The Governor Abiola Ajimobi-led faction didn’t buy forms. So when the party did not recognise us, we went to court. The matter is still in court. That in itself is an act of provocation which has led to more than 40 per cent of the membership of our party in Oyo State exiting the party to go to either the African Democratic Congress or Action Democratic Party. Some of them even went to the Peoples Democratic Party. That was the first provocation. I refused to leave because I believe in fighting from within. Again, we have this primary imbroglio. We were to contest. We were asked to purchase forms. NYSC was not and could never have been a precondition. After we purchased the form and after I had been cleared, somebody came to say that Shittu had been disqualified because he didn’t participate in NYSC? Who told him that is the law?
I am wondering whether it is the legal adviser that didn’t give him the right advice or whether the national chairman decided to go on frolics of his own. One of the two must have happened. Again, that was another provocation which made me to go to court. So, these are provocations. They are trying to force me out of the APC but I will not allow them the pleasure of a smile or joy. I will not leave the APC. I will remain in the party and fight for justice, using the court and I am confident that the courts are as intelligent and are as firm and courageous as they could ever have been.
So at what point will you consider leaving the party?
It doesn’t arise. It is not possible; it doesn’t arise. I am not a young man in politics. So, the issue of not knowing what I am doing does not arise at this stage. I have told you my position.
Everyone has a breaking point; at what point will you say, I will not take it any longer?
I am as strong as the rock of Gibraltar; I am also as constant as the Northern star. If I am in my father’s house and a usurper comes and tries to drive me out, will I not fight until death meets me there in defence of my rightful property? I am a member of this party; I am a foundation member. I was also part of the team that formulated the current constitution of the party. Besides, I have told you about my commitment to the ideals of the party which President Buhari symbolises.
What if the president leaves the party?
Do you conceive in your wildest imagination that as leader of the household called APC, he would leave? For who? He had left one or two parties in the past.
That was because there was injustice against him then. He decided to leave and form another party. But I believe he is here to stay. I believe that there is nothing that is insurmountable within the APC to warrant his leaving the party. As the sitting president, everything politically or otherwise, gravitates towards him.
Given your close association with the President, the leader of the party; why would you be treated the way you claim to have been treated?
The President is not one person who believes in preferential treatment. He is one person who allows the party machinery to move as it should. He believes that he ought to give people who have been given responsibilities all that the things required by way of support and by way of assistance. But he wields the big stick at the appropriate time, and if necessary. I want to assure you that in my case, the matter is not beyond me to get justice.
So, at what point would you appeal for the President’s intervention?
I don’t have to appeal to Mr. President. I have informed the President that I am already in court. The President had himself had to go to court when he didn’t get justice. So, I am already taking after him.
Are you suggesting that the party machinery in the state has been hijacked?
It has been hijacked. Why is it that as a leader of the party in a state, why would you witness all those party activists in the Action Congress of Nigeria, who worked for your success in 2011 exit the party? Why would the leader of the party in Oyo State watch while more than 40 per cent of the party members, particularly, those who helped to win elections in 2015 exit the party for other parties? His case is about impunity. His case is about dictatorship. His case is about someone who is greedy for power and who wants to have power exclusively. He doesn’t see it as Yoruba people would say, one man does not make a market. We have to challenge him. All the impunity must come to an end sooner than later. All the dictatorship must come to an end. He does not care whether the party wins or loses. All that he is interested in is that he is the only lord of the Manor. However, the APC is our common patrimony. We will ensure that we use the proper machinery of the law to get him to abide by righteousness – political righteousness, moral righteousness and social righteousness.
You seem to be overstating the fact when you say that more than 40 per cent of the members of the party in the state have left the party.
I have said it many times; in 2015, when the party was one solid body, we defeated the next candidate by about 40,000 votes. Now that the party is divided from up to down, how does anybody seem to be confident that the party would still win when more than 40 per cent of the people have left if not up to 50 per cent? When we had the congresses, it was very obvious that the unity forum which I was one of the leaders multiplied their number. Most of us have now left except a few of us that are remaining.
At the end of the day, there will be election and I am confident that the Independent National Electoral Commission of today will conduct free, fair and acceptable elections which should make it very impossible for anybody to say that he can rig.
What you are saying is that the party would lose elections in the state.
If things are not done rightly and particularly if I don’t get the ticket; I am almost sure of that. I am the only one who can serve as bridge between those in the party now and those that have left. I am the only one who can bring all of these people who left back to the party as one solid team again. The party needs me, as the one who enjoys the respect of those who have left, to bring about victory. If they doubt me and fail to do what is right, we keep our fingers crossed.
Some others may consider you as a fringe leader.
You may call me a fringe leader, even though I have been in politics for close to 40 years. I got into politics in 1979 when I was already a qualified lawyer. That is about 40 years. As a member of the House of Assembly – with all due respect – the father of Governor Ajimobi was my colleague in the House of Assembly. You want to ask, where was Ajimobi then? He was still in school. Twice I had been a commissioner. I have lived all my life in Oyo State.
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I have occupied several other positions – politically, religiously, culturally and otherwise. I have practised my law in Oyo State and today, I am the minister representing Oyo State. If with all these achievements, you consider me as a fringe leader; how many political activists in Oyo State have my credentials? Everyone can deceive themselves with whatever description of me. The people in Oyo State know better. And they will take their destiny in their own hands.
How come you have held all these positions and offices without presenting NYSC discharge or exemption certificate?
I think we have gone beyond that. I will not go back to that question. I told you that in 1979, when I contested election and won, somebody went to court on the allegation that I didn’t have NYSC certificate and the court had the case thrown out. In any case, the matter has been submitted before the court.
I was not even talking about the House of Assembly. Beyond being a member of the House, when commissioners and ministers are screened; NYSC certificate is one of the things they look at.
In which law did you find that? There is no law which requires you to produce an NYSC certificate. The constitution does not ask you to produce it. The party does not request you to produce it. I have been singled out.
Even Ajimobi does not have an NYSC certificate. And yet today, they have allowed him to emerge even though fraudulently as the senatorial candidate of the party for Oyo South. He does not have a certificate and the party does not ask him to produce it; the same issue I was purportedly disqualified. That is double standard.
You want to ask: why are Ajimobi and his co-travellers afraid of my emergence as the governorship candidate and as the governor of the state? On the grapevine, I hear that Ajimobi believes that Adebayo Shittu is another Buhari. If he succeeds to become governor, he – Ajimobi – would be in jail. That is his belief. I don’t know where he got that belief from. Because of that belief and pathological fear, he is trying to controvert my right and ensure that I don’t advance politically, forgetting that God is the ultimate decider of people’s faith.
Finally on this NYSC stuff, it appears that the love of office lured you to shun going for service.
Except you say that everybody has this love. Yoruba people have an adage that says that the child who is smart (who will be great) is known from the beginning. I had the uncommon privilege of having met Chief Obafemi Awolowo when I was still a student. I listened to him and he inspired me and challenged me indirectly. I took up the challenge and I made a success of it. God did not create all of us equal. For me, it is not about love or greed for office. It is all about passion for service. You know my background. I come from a thoroughly backward background but God made me smart.
While my peers were still grovelling as to go after service, I was serving in the House. It was not an appointment. It was an election. There was a primary election also. I defeated a senior lawyer at that time in the primary. I vied, got elected and became the youngest member of the Oyo State House of Assembly. I also became the most active member of the House of Assembly in terms of legislative activism; in terms of the number of motions I put in; in terms of other extra parliamentary activities arising from my membership of the House.
In Oyo State, at 6pm when the parliamentary news would be aired on the television, everybody would make sure they got home early enough to listen to ‘From the Parliament’ because they knew that something new would be coming from the mouth of Adebayo Shittu. It was not about greed then. How much were we paid then – N1, 000 per month. Even that N1, 000 was not for me alone. It was for everybody who came through my path, who needed my assistance or support. That attribute has remained with me till today. So, it was not about money.
So, what if young people follow in your footsteps and begin to shun national service?
We should treat case on its own merits. The laws are very clear. The obligation of NYSC is there. It is not for me to say that now. One obligation comes before the other. In any case, if people who go into police, into the army, into the Customs, into all of these; even if they are coming in as recruits, are excluded from service. If you are in the House to represent your community; should it not be regarded as a higher form of service?
Those ones are specifically excluded from service. What you are saying is not in the law.
What is in the law? I said I do not want to argue on the points now.
There was a news report that President Buhari was expecting your resignation.
I don’t know where they got that news from.
A lot people are also expecting that you should follow in the footsteps of your former colleague in the cabinet, Kemi Adeosun, instead of heaping a moral burden on the government.
Is my case the same as that of Kemi Adeosun? It is completely different. Kemi Adeosun, unfortunately, had someone procure for her a forged NYSC exemption certificate, which she didn’t need anyway. She didn’t need it. I have not presented any forged certificate. It is like light and darkness; you don’t compare the two.
So with these controversies, you don’t think you should resign and not burden the party.
There is no controversy. My traducers: I will not make them happy. I will not put smile on their faces. They will continue to lament and lament and lament and look at me climb up politically. So, as long as I am concerned, I don’t know where they got their story from; that the President was expecting me to resign. Resign for what? Did I commit a crime? I plead not guilty to such charge from any quarters.
Enough of politics; you have been a Minister of Communications for about three years now. What do you consider as the highpoints of your tenure?
I will give you a symbolism about the highpoints of my job. When I was appointed a minister, stakeholders in the industry protested. They could not imagine how a lawyer, who is not an ICT person, would be asked to come and head an ICT ministry.
One and half years later, I was given an award of Fellow of the Nigerian Computer Society, which is an umbrella organisation of the ICT industry. That should speak volumes about this. By the grace of God; today, I am a Fellow of the Nigerian Computer Society. I have provided leadership to the industry and stakeholders are completely happy with the leadership that I have provided. Remember that this ministry is a ministry charged with the responsibility for providing policy, regulation, monitoring and supervision for all other agencies under the ministry. We are the mother ministry for agencies like the Nigerian Communications Commission; National Information Technology Development Agency; Nigerian Postal Service; NigComSat; Galaxy Backbone and the Universal Access Provision Fund.
So, it is my responsibility to ensure that they are operating well and servicing the industry well. I can beat my chest and say, there has not been any serious protestation from any quarters since I came on board. (Punch)
