Governor Abiola Ajimobi has said he will not support the Minister of
Communications, Adebayo Shittu, in his bid to succeed him as governor of
Oyo State.
The governor said this during an exclusive interview with the Channels
Television’s programme, Roadmap 2019, which aired on Monday night.
Although the governor and the minister, who has since declared his
intention to run for governor of the state in 2019, are members of the All
Progressives Congress, the governor doesn’t consider him qualified for the
role.
Asked if he would support Mr Shittu, Governor Ajimobi replied in the
negative.
“He doesn’t have what it takes to be a governor,” the governor said. “I
have been a governor now for seven years. I know the qualities of someone
who should be a governor; he doesn’t have it. His temperament cannot be
that of a governor.”
As far as Governor Ajimobi is concerned, governors must be reserved and
should have proven themselves in their field of expertise, something he
believes he achieved before going into politics.
“I was an oil and gas man. I rose to the peak of my career as a managing
director,” he said, stressing that he did not work for just any company
but rose through the ranks to become MD of a subsidiary of Shell
Petroleum.
“Not only in Nigeria but outside Nigeria. I was chief executive of Shell
(Petroleum) companies outside Nigeria,” he added.
Despite ruling out the governorship credentials of Mr Shittu, the governor
insists he has nothing against the minister. He also believes the
communication minister is free to go ahead and contest in the elections.
As far as Governor Ajimobi is concerned, he is only stating what he
believes to be the facts.
“If you behave unconventionally and I say you behave unconventionally, is
that derogatory? I have nothing against him, to be honest. I just like
people to have decorum, I like people with style,” he said.
The Oyo governor who was in office when President Muhammadu Buhari
appointed Mr Shittu to his cabinet in 2015, distanced himself from the
appointment.
When asked if he believes Mr Shittu would have been appointed minister if
he truly lacked the qualities the governor claims he lacked, Governor
Ajimobi said the APC in Oyo was against the appointment.
“The party didn’t support the nomination,” he said.
Both have engaged in a war of words in recent months with the 2019
elections six months away.
Mr Shittu who went into politics early in life and was elected into the
Oyo State House of Assembly at the age 26 in 1983, has accused Governor
Ajimobi of being desperate to stop him from becoming governor.
In May, after the ward congresses of the APC, the minister was quoted as
saying, “He (the governor) thinks that I am too principled, firm,
unbendable and uncompromising when it comes to the issues of morality. It
is he who is desperate to stop me, not me being desperate to become
governor.”
Ultimately, the governor believes it would be up to the people of Oyo
State to decide who would govern them should the minister become a
governorship candidate after party primaries.
As things stand, Governor Ajimobi believes there are “many people” who are
better qualified to become governor of the state.