The Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu has closed down the South West campaign office for President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo ahead of the 2019 general elections, DAILY POST reports.
This is coming few weeks after the Saki-born lawyer turned politician lost the bid to get the gubernatorial ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Oyo State to former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Bayo Adelabu.
The office inside a building strategically located along Mokola-Ojoo Road in the heart of Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, DAILY POST recalls was meant to serve as the campaign office of Buhari and Osinbajo in the South West region, gubernatorial campaign office and Ministerial office of the embattled Minister, Shittu.
Photographs during the inauguration of the office attended by former Governor of Abia state, Chief Orji Kalu and former Senate President, Ken Nnamani obtained by DAILY POST revealed that there were APC banners and photographs of President Buhari, Osinbajo, APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as that of the Minister.
But, the banners and photographs which were earlier erected during the commissioning of the building have been removed and DAILY POST gathered that the building has been offered for let after the Minister closed it.
Investigations by DAILY POST in the last two weeks revealed that the office which once served as beehive of activities has been deserted, surrounded and over grown by weeds which shows that it has been abandoned by the Minister.
The office was commissioned on Saturday, 20 January 2018, but it has been deserted after it was abandoned and closed by the Minister ten months after the commissioning.
DAILY POST gathered that the immediate environment of the fenced building has become bushy and shrubs and trees have also overtaken the premises.
It was also gathered that residents of Veterinary, Oke-Itunu and Mokola and other people have also taken the advantage of the bushy compound to dump refuse into the premises.
The Minister while reacting to calls put across to him by DAILY POST to inquire why he closed the office and abandoned it, said that the house was rented to him (Shittu), by Hon. Ajibola Muraina, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), chieftain.
Shittu in a statement sent to DAILY POST Tuesday morning by one of his aides, Malik Aderogba added that the fact that the rent had terminated, it does not mean that Shittu is abandoning campaign for Buhari/Osinbajo ticket.
Aderogba, a cousin to the Minister said, “To start with, the building in question is not owned by Barrister Adebayo Shittu but was rented from one Barrister Hon. Ajibola Muraina, a PDP chieftain.
“Secondly, the fact that the rent was terminated is not conclusive that Barr. Shittu is abandoning campaigning for Buhari/ Osinbajo ticket as we are aware that Barr. Shittu is already making arrangements for a new and better location for coordinating campaigns for Buhari and Osibajo’s reelection.
“Furthermore, Barrister Adebayo Shittu remains one of the most loyal, the most trusted and the most beloved ministers in the Buhari presidency.
Here are the pictures taken during the inauguration of the office and the ones taken when the office had been offered for let as obtained by DAILY POST…
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