Adebayo Shittu, the Minister of Communications, has said that the All Progressives Congress, APC, will lose the governorship election in Oyo State if the party fails to field him as its governorship candidate in 2019.
Adebayo said this while addressing journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital over the weekend.
The Minister disclosed that he’s the only aspirant that can ensure the return of all the political heavyweights who have defected to the opposition.
He said, “I cannot but assure you that once I get the ticket of the party for the governorship election, that all these members who have left will certainly come back into the APC fold. I can conclude with all sense of responsibility and humility that as the APC stands today, I am the only aspirant who can win for APC, Oyo State in the general election.
“I can assure you that if I am able to get the ticket of the party, like I have told our leaders, APC in Oyo State has only two options: either I get the ticket or the party loses to the opposition, and since I enjoy the confidence of the generality of our people in Oyo, I will be able to win the state over for the party. The only other option, I will say, although I stand to be corrected, by the election result when it comes, is that if I don’t get the ticket, then APC can forget about Oyo State. It is clear.
“You see, our people especially in Oke Ogun of Oyo State, feel so cheated. When the 2015 election was held, the people of Ibadanland who are the majority did not vote for Governor Abiola Ajimobi. They rather voted for Senator Rasidi Ladoja, my former boss.
“But, we in Oke Ogun, of the 10 local governments, nine voted massively for Ajimobi, and in appreciation of that, when he was going round on a thank-you tour, he did promise Oke Ogun that, indeed, it was now their turn because they did what was so unthinkable; that they showed patriotism; they showed commitment to the success of APC.
“Unfortunately, after he had won, it would appear that he is reneging on that commitment. All our people are waiting to see what will unfold and so consequently, I am restating that if I get the ticket of APC for the governorship election, I am 90 per cent sure that APC will win Oyo State. If I don’t get the ticket, no other person of the current aspirants of the APC can deliver Oyo State for APC.”
