I was shocked that I did not make the ministerial list – Shittu

The immediate-past Communication Minister, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, said he was shocked when he discovered that his name was missing on the ministerial list.

Shittu, who revealed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja, said although he was not expecting any reappointment, as a Muslim, he took it as his fate.

The ex-minister said, “I took it the way it came.”

NAN reports that Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, had, on July 23, read out the names of 43 ministerial nominees sent by President Buhari to the lawmakers for confirmation at the upper house.

While the list contained 14 former ministers, 29 new names and seven females, 18 ex-ministers did not make the list, including Mr Shittu.

“Of course, I expected that I will be reappointed, but when it didn’t happen, as a Muslim, it didn’t take me five minutes before I accepted that it was 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 a half years cannot be purchased from the stores or from the market,” he said.

He said as 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 distinguished yourself,” he said.

The ex-minister, who is a also legal practitioner, said he had decided to return 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 had another opportunity 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.

The former minister, who skipped the mandatory National Youth Service, had aspired for the governorship seat of Oyo State in the last election but was disqualified by his party, the All Progressives Congress.

NAN