Former Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, has revealed that he almost resigned from President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, before he was eventually fired a fortnight ago.

Abdullahi said that he did not leave earlier, because the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, encouraged him to stay on.

He added that he was not shocked by his sack, saying as “a political appointee you expect that you can be relieved of your post anytime.”

“Several times I came close to walking away but you always encouraged me to hang on there. I thank you very much and I pray that almighty Allah will continue to guide you, abide by you and he never bring you down. You are my brother and my friend, but I’m not thanking you only for this day. I am thanking you for standing by me throughout very difficult periods,” Abdullahi said in Ilorin, at a reception organized for him to welcome him back home.

“What else can I say, apart to say that the almighty Allah will reward you for the love you have shown to me today. I have never seen anything like this in my life. And in my wildest imagination I did not expect that a day like this will come. As stood in the vehicle waving to the tumultuous crowd all the way from the airport to the Emir’s I kept asking myself what is it that I have done to deserve this and that is why I want Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed very sincerely.

“I want to thank all the people of Kwara state for of love. I don’t think I know one percent of people that came out to welcome me today. I don’t think I have in any way done anything for one percent of them.

“What I can say is that what we are celebrating today, that is what God has made possible for me to do in the last three years that you have sent me to Abuja as a minister, I dedicate to all the youths of Kwara state. We, who were born towards the end and after the end of the Nigerian civil war, are the generation that are mostly here today. That is the generation that I belong and what we have done in the last three years has shown that our generation given the opportunity is capable of achieving great things.”