Tinubu, South-West APC govs absent as Shittu, Kalu, Nnamani, others open Buhari Campaign office in Ibadan

National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Governors Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo) and other leaders of the party in the South-West, on Saturday, boycotted the official unveiling of the Muhammadu Buhari/Osinbajo (MBO) Dynamic Support Group Campaign Office for Buhari’s re-election in Ibadan.
In fact, as Communications Minister, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu; Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole; former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, and others were telling the crowd at the University of Ibadan (UI) why Buhari should be re-elected in 2019, Ajimobi, who ideally should be the host governor, was, a few metres away at Oke-Ado, holding another APC rally.
A visibly angry Kalu said that the crisis of confidence between Ajimobi and Shittu “is not in the interest of our party”.
It is believed that Shittu wants to contest the 2019 governorship election in the Pacesetter State.
Last week, he wrote a letter to Buhari, complaining about Ajimobi’s attitude and high-handedness.
To him, if Ajimobi is not called to order, APC will lose the 2019 election in the South-West state.
Also with Shittu at the event were the Postmaster-General of the Federation, Mr. Bisi Adegbuyi; National Coordinator, Muhammadu Buhari Osinbajo Dynamic Support Group, Usman Ibrahim; South-West Zonal Coordinator of the organisation, Lateef Olawumi, Senator Ayo Akinyelure and others.
An angry Kalu urged Buhari and the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to urgently reconcile Ajimobi and Shittu “in the interest of our party”.
He said: “For us, we are students of preaching peace and unity. We are students, who say the truth. We are students, who are not afraid of telling people what we feel is not right. Everybody in this hall will agree with us that there is a break in communication between our governor and the minister. We don’t want that to continue.
“If anybody inside this house today in the University of Ibadan would say it is good for these two elephants to continue quarrelling, I, and my elder brother, Senator Ken Nnamani, former Senate President, would disagree that they should not be quarrelling. The minister and the governor should be the best of friends. And we are going to make that happen.
“We have already agreed with the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, with former Senate President, that we are going to take it upon ourselves to the highest level of this party. If both of them are quarrelling, there will be no peace and progress in this state
“We are going to be fighting a very big party, a party that knows how to do it. We don’t want to lose any vote in Oyo State. The minister is very close to me and the governor is very close to me. They are also very close to Ken Nnamani.
“We came here to honour both of them. I am slightly not very happy what I have seen here that the governor is not here,  the party officials are not here, the commissioners are not here.
“I am not a man that you keep inside a room, and asked not to say the truth. Everybody knows that even what people are afraid to say, I will say it because it is only the truth that can set us free. When you leave the truth, we will suffer.
“I have spoken to the Minister of Communications. I told him I wasn’t very happy. Immediately I came, both the Minister of Health and former Senate President whispered to me that the governor is not here.
“I said the governor is going to Lagos this afternoon. This is what the Chief of Staff told my aide, when I said after this programme, I will go and drink water with him. It is not good. We must preach unity in this party. If there is no unity in this party,  we are going nowhere. Unity is very important.
“We must tell our national chairman, we must tell the president, we must tell the Vice President. It is germane to solve this problem because these are two giants that are fighting. When two giants are fighting, the grass will suffer. We don’t want the grass to continue suffering. We need the grass to feed our cows, we need the grass to eat as vegetable to ourselves. We don’t need the grass to suffer. We need the grass to grow. So, both of them must be good friends.
“I don’t care if I finish this and Minister Shittu will tell me not to come to his house again, and not to greet him again,  I will be satisfied. If I finish this speech and the governor would say ‘you are a very useless person’, I will also be satisfied. The most important thing is that me and Senator Nnamani have said the truth, and the truth cannot be hidden.
“We are here to commission the South-West campaign office for Buhari Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. We stand with Buhari and Osinbajo. We are also waiting for them to tell us they are going to run. Buhari deserves second term in office”.
Nnamani also spoke, saying “I would say publicly without any fear or favour that here in the South-West as a centre of excellence in Nigeria and centre of commerce and industry, I expect that their pre-eminent role in politics should anchor peace and unity.
“There is a need for our party, APC to have internal decorum in which there is cohesion and people work together. Politics is not a game you play as an individual. You have a role to be part of that team. You are not the team itself. You are part of it.
“Since we are here to commission the zonal office, maybe after this, we will go further, but it is important to understand that we cannot achieve much as a group without unity, and peace. It is so vital, not only in politics, but also in our families.
“We are not trying to prove any point by trying to be antagonistic and run one another down. We, as members of one family, must try and eschew every form of bitterness and excessive anger because nobody does anything right if we do it in anger or bitterness. The same thing if you are speaking and you speak with anger, you are likely to say things you will regret later.
“I appeal to all of us that to make our party great, we must come together as one. We may have different ideas but we must allow the majority rule to prevail. Remember, the new way our country is going now under President Buhari. I see our election becoming very effective and efficient”.
As Kalu and Nnamani were speaking at the International Conference Centre, UI, and they later moved to the Buhari/Osinbajo Ultra Modern Campaign Office at Mokola, Ajimobi was addressing a mammoth crowd of APC members at the party’s office at Oke Ado where he sensitised members to prepare for the forthcoming local government election in the state.
Speaking, Shittu declared that what Buhari has done in two and a half years, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration did not achieve in 16 years, adding that Buhari has created jobs for over 200,000 people in Nigeria.
His words: “It is in our interest that we should have peace if indeed we love our president and if indeed, we love our country. I want to re-assure you that whatever it takes for us to ensure peace and unity, you can count me in. I want to assure you that I will continue to support this party. As the co-founder of APC, I don’t have any choice but to remain a strong supporter of APC”.
Adewole, who also emphasised  unity and the need for eligible voters to ensure that they have their permanent voters’ cards, stated: “It is easy to destroy than to build.”