The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Oyo State has rejected the nomination of Mr. Adebayo Shittu to represent the state in President Muhammadu Buhari’s Federal Executive Council, FEC, as minister.

Making its position known in a statement issued yesterday, the state chapter of the party claimed that Shittu would not serve the interest of the people, adding that he is not a team player.

The statement reads, “The State Working Committee (SWC) of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State met on October 1 and resolved as follows:

“That President Muhammadu Buhari deserves commendation for beginning to lead the campaign for laying a foundation for the desired change by Nigerians through his enviable leadership within a short period that his administration was inaugurated.

“That we pledge our unalloyed loyalty and support for the national leadership and levels of our great party while at the same time appreciate the followership for their cooperation in repositioning our dear country.

“That we like to appreciate the fact that going by the 2015 presidential election results, Oyo State performed creditable in terms of contribution of votes to the overall success of our party, in ranking, Oyo State came first in the Southwest with 528,620 votes, third position in the whole South and seventh in the whole federation. Similarly, we won all the three senatorial seats and 12 of 14 House of Representative seats too. This we considered no mean feat.

“Surprisingly, however, our performance has not been commensurately rewarded at the national level. For instance, Your Excellency, the current power matrix shows that the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives hails from Osun State while the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue is a Lagosian. Both in the Senate and House of Representatives, no lawmaker from Oyo State heads any committees that had so far been constituted.

“Your Excellency, sir, the recent media reports of the ministerial nominees from Oyo State in person of Barrister Adebayo Shittu has further compounded our political challenges because of the unacceptability and rejection by the vast majority of our people.

“He is not a team player. Despite the fact that he and his cohorts were fully accommodated in the APC, he exhibited a cantankerous and uncooperative attitude in his relationship with the party and its leadership, which was uncalled for. We can recall that our amiable governor appointed his one-time female running mate as a senior special assistant (SSA) political matters till May 28. Also, the state chairman of CPC as well as the state secretary of the ANPP were equally given commissionership slot in Oyo State. This is a further demonstration of the fact that the state APC does not believe in a winner-takes-all or zero-sum kind of politics.

“It is curious to note that Barrister Shittu refused to bluntly participate in all party activities including campaigns except on one occasion of the presidential rally in Ibadan. Till date, he has refused to participate in party activities or feature in any governmental programmes at all levels.