By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday disqualified th minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu from contesting tomorrow’s governorship primary in Oyo State for not taking part in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Recall that the APC’s governorship aspirant screening committee initially cleared Shittu despite the emergence of evidence he did not undergo the mandatory National Youth Service Corps.
However, after the party’s National Working Committee ( NWC) met to review the report of the screening committee, it decided against clearing him and disqualified him.
The report of the screening panel indicated that Shittu was disqualified for not possessing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.
Sundiata Post recalls that the communications minister confirmed that he did not participate in the mandatory youth service because he went straight from the university to the old Oyo State House of Assembly as the youngest elected member in 1979.
Shittu claimed that his service in the Assembly is equivalent to national service
Recall that hours before the APC disqualified him, Shittu while speaking to journalists, rejected the indirect primary election adopted for the state.
He said: “I, Adebayo Shittu, the leading governorship aspirant of the APC in Oyo State, rejects the recommendation of the NWC for indirect primary in the state.”
The minister stated this on Thursday in Abuja while speaking with journalists at the APC national secretariat after meeting with the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
He also pointed out that issues surrounding the emergence of the leadership of the state chapter of the party were still being contested at the courts.
Mr Shittu said part of the reasons he rejected the adoption of indirect primaries in the state was because those to serve as delegates constituted the bulk of those handpicked for the party’s state congresses, which are being contested in court.
He stressed that the decision to adopt the indirect primaries in Oyo State was particularly aimed at preventing him from having a fair opportunity to contest, participate and to win the primary election.
“The direct primary system will surely allow all aspirants in the party to test their popularity,” he said.
He added that the system gives party members a fair opportunity of voting for candidates of their choice.
Mr Shittu stressed that if the party members were the true owners of the party, they should be allowed to take its ownership, particularly with regard to selecting a candidate of their choice.
The minister, however, advised the APC leadership not to allow the desperate desire of “some political bigwigs” to produce a stooge as a candidate for the 2019 election in the state.