The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Oyo state, on Thursday described the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu’s petition to the national leadership of the party as full of untrue statements.

The APC further said the Minister was an enemy of the state for writing such petition to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bolaji Ahmed Tinubu and John Odigie-Oyegun against Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

In his petition, the minister said he ran into trouble with Ajimobi because he frustrated the governor’s attempt to remove unjustly the APC Chairman in the Ido Local Government Area of the state, who he simply identified as Pastor Akintokun.

He also claimed that the governor was not happy that he accepted the chieftaincy title of Agba – Akin Afiwagboye from the Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Saliu Adetunji, among other claims.

But the state’s chapter of the APC, in a statement signed by its Director, Media and Strategy, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olatunde said that Shittu’s claims were ‘baseless and fallacious.’

The statement said, “Contrary to the reckless insinuations made by the minister, the APC is doing extremely well in the state. Rather than lose any member to the opposition, the state APC under the leadership of Governor Ajimobi has been moving from strength to strength.

“Barely one month ago, the rank and file of the party membership, which has continued to experience unprecedented growth and development, witnessed a bumper harvest when notable political stakeholders from major opposition parties in the state defected to the APC in an open rally and submitted themselves to the leadership of the governor.

“It is quite saddening, highly disheartening and a monumental disservice to our party that a serving minister of Oyo State origin will close his eyes to the reality of the rising political profile of not only our party but also of our leader. The fact is that his petition is rooted in falsehood and premised on cheap blackmail.

“It must be stated that while Governor Ajimobi and other leaders of our party have been working assiduously to develop our great party, Shittu in his characteristic manner has been moving from one local government to another sowing the seeds of discord all in the name of his desperate and inordinate ambition to govern the state.

“He was never part of the developmental process of our party. Having lost the governorship primary in 2015 , Shittu abandoned every activity geared towards the victory of the party including the presidential campaign.

“He further took the party to court on the eve of the 2015 governorship election and was working for the opposition Accord Party where his former boss and benefactor contested the governorship election. Today, he is reaping from where he did not sow.”

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