Adebayo Shittu Back to First Love

Adebayo Shittu Back to First Love

That former Minister of Communication, Abdul-raheem Adebayo Shittu, wasn’t reappointed by President Muhammadu Buhari is no longer news. By this point, it is as exciting as watching paint dry or a Lagos go-slow. Despite all his chest-beating and vows, prayers and verbal, if not physical, prostrations to the powers that be, Shittu was deemed surplus to requirements, a pawn to be sacrificed in the altar of the president’s Next Level project.

Since then, the man whose antics and controversies as helmsman of the ministry of communications used to rend the airwaves and social media has become a picture of equanimity. He, in his own words, has accepted his fate, finding solace in the Quaranic nugget that everything that begins has an ending. His resolve has been bolstered by the injunction to forget what was behind and press onward instead to what lies ahead.

And what does lie ahead for the Oyo-born dude is, in a delicious bit of irony, what had gone before. No, not the trappings of transient oversight of one of the nation’s ministries. Not even his previous role before then as the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State which he held under the governorship of Rasheed Ladoja. Shittu is going way back in time to his first love — Law.

Recall that during his tenure as communication minister, Shittu was caught red-handed for holding office without possessing a certificate of service from the National Youth Service Corps which is given upon completion of the mandatory one-year service. Perhaps, now he’d be well-placed to argue the case for his political peers caught doing the same thing. He has, after all, opened a new law chambers in the Federal Capital Territory.

The location alone should tell everyone that Shittu isn’t ready to do legal charity just yet. His sights are firmly set on the elites roaming the capital city. As someone with first-hand experience of how power works and the legal complications that often arise, there is no doubt that he is well-placed to attract high profile clients with his legal services.

After all, his experiences and legal knowledge remain valid even almost half a century after acquiring his law degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University (then the University of Ifè). His experience heading the justice ministry in Oyo State will also come in handy, not to mention his two decades of law practice between the end of the second republic and the advent of civilian rule. Like a fine wine that keeps getting better with age, Shittu, who has authored 13 books, mostly on Islamic topics, remains keen as even to show his mettle as an accomplished luminary of law.

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