Shocking I was not reappointed as minister – Shittu

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*Shittu

Former minister of communications has expressed shock that he did not make President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial list.

Shittu, who stated this in an interview with NAN in Abuja, said although he did not expect that he would not be reappointed, as a Muslim, he took it as his fate.

“I took it the way it came. Of course, I expected that I will be reappointed (as a minister) but when it didn’t happen, as a Muslim, it didn’t take me five minutes before I accepted that what has come, it’s the will of God.

“And I have also found comfort in a Quranic verse when God promised that what is to come later is better than what is with you now.

“So for me, it says we must accept that there is always something better with God which he gives to his beloved.

“I see myself as a beloved of God.

“I have come a long way and I have served at the state and national levels and the experience that I have garnered over the last three and half years cannot be purchased from the stores or from the market,” he said.

He said as a public officer, one must always have it in one’s mind that “whatever has a beginning will necessarily have an end.”

“And it is not how long one stays in public office but how well you are able to distinguish yourself,” he said.

The ex-minister, who is a legal practitioner, said he had decided to fall back to his profession.

“I want to thank God that I am one politician who has a second address in the sense that, if I am not a minister, I will be doing some other productive things which will also contribute to national development.

“Of course, I would have wished that I have other opportunities to serve. I believe the chapter of my public service is not closed.

“By the grace of God, I will continue to be relevant in national development.

“As a lawyer of about 40 years, I now have my chambers opened in Abuja. So now, I am back in practice,” he said.

Shittu, who thanked God for the opportunity to serve as minister, also thanked the president for the appointment.

“I have been a local politician for almost 40 years before the opportunity to serve at the national level.

“I really appreciate it and I want to say that I am eternally grateful to Mr. President.

“So for me to have been in office for three and half years, I think it is a rear privilege for which I will continue to thank God and to continue to thank Mr. President,” he said.

Shittu was the youngest lawmaker at the age of 26 to be elected a member of the Oyo State House of Assembly in 1979.

It would be recalled that Shittu who skipped the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), had aspired for the governorship of Oyo State in the last election but was disqualified by his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

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