Former Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Wednesday gave an insight as to why he was relieved of his appointment by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Abdullahi, who represented Kwara State at the Federal Executive Council, served as the Minister of Youth Development and later Minister of Sports under Jonathan’s administration and was sacked in March 2014.
12 years down the line, Abdullahi, who currently serves as the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said he was fired because he did not abuse ex-Senate President Bukola Saraki during a campaign in Kwara State.
Speaking about this loyalty to the former senate president, Abdullahi said he refused to be drawn into the conflict between his principal and former President Jonathan shortly after Saraki left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC).
“There is always a price to pay because you find yourself caught in between. You are not being asked to take sides in a battle that you hardly understand most of the times,” he stated on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“Why was I sacked? President Jonathan was going to Kwara to campaign and that was the time Saraki left the PDP to join the APC. I was expected as the most senior political appointee from Kwara to take over the PDP structure, fund it and lead the President’s campaign.
“When we got to Kwara, everybody was attacking Saraki. I was expected as the most senior political office holder to also join and attack Saraki and I said no. So it was a matter of principle.”
When asked if he felt bad serving in Jonathan’s government, Abdullahi replied in the negative.
He stated that he expected to be sacked since he reaffirmed his loyalty to Saraki while also maintaining the relationship with the President.
When Saraki was the governor of Kwara, Abdullahi was his special assistant on communication, special adviser on policy, and later appointed as commissioner for education.