A former Minister of Youth Development and Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi<\/strong>, has revealed that he was appointed into the Federal Executive Council by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan without any prior personal relationship.<\/p>\n Abdullahi made the disclosure in his memoir, The Loyalist, scheduled for public presentation on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n The 297-page book chronicles his two-decade journey through Nigerian politics, offering insights into governance at both state and federal levels, as well as the personal costs of political loyalty.<\/p>\n According to Abdullahi, his appointment came shortly after he completed his tenure as Commissioner for Education in Kwara State.<\/p>\n He said he was one of eight names forwarded to President Jonathan for ministerial consideration from the state, stressing that he had no personal relationship with the president before the appointment.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n He acknowledged, however, that his close political association with the leadership in Kwara State played a role in securing the nomination.<\/p>\n Abdullahi served under former Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki, first as a special assistant from 2003 and later as commissioner from 2007. Saraki had just completed his second term as governor and was succeeded by Abdulfatah Ahmed, another of his former commissioners.<\/p>\n Abdullahi said his appointment, largely made to fulfil constitutional requirements, plunged him into a politically tense environment.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cFor most of my time as minister, I felt like a man on death row who did not know when his executioner would come<\/em>,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n He recalled being listed among ministers expected to be dismissed on September 11, 2013. Although he survived that purge, he was eventually removed from office on March 5, 2014.<\/p>\n According to him, the political climate at the time made his exit almost inevitable.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Abdullahi linked his dismissal to the political battle between Jonathan and Saraki, who was then a senator.<\/p>\n Saraki had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the newly formed All Progressives Congress alongside 11 other senators and five governors, a move widely seen as a major blow to Jonathan\u2019s re-election bid.<\/p>\n As a known loyalist of Saraki serving in Jonathan\u2019s cabinet, Abdullahi said he became a subject of suspicion.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cEven my colleagues could not hide their suspicion<\/em>,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Abdullahi said he anticipated his dismissal early and prepared himself accordingly.<\/p>\n \u201cSince my appointment, I had organised myself in such a way that I would not require much time to move out<\/em>,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI never planned for anything beyond a four-month cycle<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that he prepared his family and aides for the possibility of sudden exit, noting that ministerial appointments are held at the absolute discretion of the president.<\/p>\n The former minister said he initially saw himself as a technocrat rather than a politician, a view Saraki also encouraged when he was appointed in 2011.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPartisan politics did not interest me<\/em>,\u201d he wrote, adding that he preferred to focus on his job.<\/p>\n However, Abdullahi said he later realised that ministerial positions are inherently political, especially as elections approach.<\/p>\n Abdullahi said Saraki\u2019s defection forced him into a moral dilemma: renounce his political mentor to prove loyalty to Jonathan or stand by Saraki and risk losing his job.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that point, only a total disavowal of Saraki could have saved me<\/em>,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that would have also meant renouncing the very principles my father had taught me were more important than all the riches in the world<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n He described himself as \u201cthe grass suffering while two elephants fought.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Abdullahi said he avoided discussing Saraki\u2019s defection directly with Jonathan, fearing it could force him into taking sides or be misconstrued as political manoeuvring.<\/p>\n He noted that Jonathan appeared to dislike treachery, even when committed in his favour.<\/p>\n Abdullahi said: \u201cI never did because I was afraid he might misconstrue my motive, and I would have ended up waving a red flag at an otherwise friendly bull.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAnother reason I did not bring up the Saraki issue with him was that I feared it might lead to a situation requiring me to take sides. More importantly, in a bid to prove my loyalty to him, I might have inadvertently given the impression that I was willing to take sides with him. In my interactions with him, I made deliberate efforts to understand his worldview, and he came across to me as a man who disliked treacherous people, even if their treachery was in his service.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWith Senator Saraki, however, it was not so difficult to bring up the matter. In fact, I thought it would be expected of me to do so. A couple of times, I asked him what the real problem was with the president, and he explained what he thought it was. I was, however, careful not to tell him how his relationship with Jonathan was reflecting on me and how I was suffering as a result. I knew he could be very suspicious and even distrustful<\/em>,\u201d the author said.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A former Minister of Youth Development and Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, has revealed that he was appointed into the Federal Executive Council by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan without any prior personal relationship. Abdullahi made the disclosure in his memoir, The Loyalist, scheduled for public presentation on Tuesday. Story continues below advertisement The 297-page book chronicles his two-decade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":240384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[287,891,2635,594,584,251],"class_list":["post-240383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-apc","tag-bolaji-abdullahi","tag-bukola-saraki","tag-goodluck-jonathan","tag-headlines","tag-pdp"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Saraki-Jonathan.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}