Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, has alleged that Governor Abiola Ajimobi, is against his governorship ambition for fear of being jailed.
Shittu made the allegation during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
He said, “Abiola Ajimobi thinks and has been telling his supporters that if Adebayo Shittu succeeds him, he will be jailed”.
The comments come days after the minister was screened out of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary for Oyo State, following a report that he did not participate in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) despite graduating from the University at the age of 25.
In his defence, the minister had said he believed that having been elected a lawmaker right after his university education, that had served as his ‘national service’.
He reiterated that he deliberatively skipped the NYSC scheme because he was convinced that his membership of the state assembly was in itself a “service.”
Speaking further, he accused Governor Ajimobi of being a stumbling block to his participation in the governorship primary in Oyo State and also of having a hand in the NYSC controversy.
He went further to state that the governor himself did not participate in the national service.
“Certainly he did, using the NYSC as the last card. I have it on good authority that even he doesn’t have an NYSC certificate and yet he too wants to go to the Senate.
“I hope that at the appropriate time, that issue will also be brought to the fore,” Shittu said.
He also stressed that he was deliberately screened out because “they” believe he cannot be easily manipulated.
“They cannot trust me to bend to issues that are not in the interest of the state. If they want somebody they can trust to certainly do their bidding, I am not that kind of person that anybody will put in office and thinks that he will continue to manipulate,” he said.
