The faceoff between Gov. Abiola Ajimobi and Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu has no rule of engagement as no abusive word seems too big to be hurled at each other.
In an interview with New Telegraph, Shittu let the paper into how he used to have a yummy relationship with Ajimobi until 2011 governorship election in Oyo State in which he contested on the platform of the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and lost to the governor, who was Action Congress of Nigeria’s flag bearer.
The minister narrated that hitherto in the Second Republic he was a member of the Oyo State of Assembly with Ajimobi’s father, Baba Gani Ajimobi, and they enjoyed a cordial relationship which he extended to the governor, particularly in 2007.
“You will recall that in 2007 when Chief Rashidi Ladoja was the governor, I was at that time the Attorney General of the state. It was during that time that Ajimobi contested for the governorship.
“By the time he was contesting, because my boss then, Chief Ladoja, was not given a ticket to contest under the PDP, he gave Ajimobi all the support of his people because he announced publicly that everybody should vote for Ajimobi, and people massively voted for him. That was his first outing and he was voted for massively by the grace of Ladoja at that time.
“When he lost, Ladoja called me and said as an Attorney General, I should go and set up a legal team that would fight for Ajimobi who obviously had been robbed in the election. I set up a legal team, appointing Niyi Akintola (SAN) to handle the case.
“We paid N25m to assist Ajimobi in his case despite the fact that he had contested under the platform of ANPP and we were in PDP. For everyday that the case came up in court, I was always personally present to assist Niyi Akintola in the case.
“We moved on to Court of Appeal, but again unfortunately we lost that as well. All this made us to become more friendly because of the support and sacrifices I had given him.
“Thereafter we remained friends, till 2011 We contested together and so I think that was the point of division,” he told the paper.
The minister went on to speak on recent happenings between them over a parcel of land in his home town, Saki, under litigation, saying the governor used foul language against him in public.
“It was when the issue of a parcel of land that was given to me by the Saki Parapo came up. I wanted to use it for the ICT project that came up. I approached the governor to intervene in the matter and he told me that he would wade in to see how it would be settled. I was happy that on his own accord, he initiated that.
“But few days after the discussion, the government through their caretaker chairman, took a bulldozer to the place, bulldozed and levelled the whole place including all the over 2,000 blocks there… I was also told that they went with 10 Tipper lorries with which they parked the rubble and used it to level the potholes in the town of Saki to Ogboroo Road. When I saw that, I phoned the governor immediately, but he didn’t pick the calls. Then I sent a text message to him. Some people around him said when my message got to him, he said ‘that bush boy is the one calling and sending me messages.”
