Mallam Bolaji Abddullahi, the erstwhile minister of Sports, was on the entourage of President Goodluck Jonathan to Kwara State last Monday. The President's visit was special as the apparatus of government was moved to the state; Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who is the number two citizen; the Senate President, David Mark, who also is the number three citizen in the land, was on the team while Chairman of the ruling party; Alhaji Adamu Muazu, and the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, were also on the historic entourage.

The first port of call was the palace of the Emir of Ilorin, Alahji Ibrahim sulu Gambari. There, everyone was said to have taken their seat, including the President. The protocols were to be taken when the minister, a native of Ilorin, who should play host to all the government personnel allegedly sauntered in, in a manner even the traditional institution did not like.

Also, in addition to persistent demands by members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kwara was that the minister be dropped because he had been suspected to be a double-faced member of the federal cabinet, and was working against their interest in the state. His activities were said to be quite difficult for him to hide right from the beginning of the cracks in the then PDP and the members in Kwara State who are the ardent followers of Dr. Bukola Saraki were on one side against the party leadership at the centre. While his position could be understood because Dr Saraki is his godfather, his refusal to go when, at the end, Saraki led all his followers out of the PDP became openly suspicious. He had since then been said to be placed under by those left behind in the party.

Party members told Sunday Mirror that Bolaji's recent apolitical claims were quite funny knowing how political he was when as the then commissioner for Education in the state, he gathered school principals at the Government House and spoke strong political languages to inaugurate electioneering activities that produced the incumbent Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed; joining Bukola to counter his father's (Olusola Saraki) choice of Gbemisola Saraki.

Political observers regard Abdullahi's stay in the federal cabinet after the exit of Bukola as dangerous for the system. They saw him as a mole. One of the dangerous roles Bolaji allegedly played was when the October 2013 Local Government election took place in the state at a time that the crisis in the PDP was hotting up.

The process of selection of candidates attracted complaints from members of the state PDP. Bolaji at the time came home to actively participate on the election day without showing any concern for the ripples it was generating in the party as federal minister and one of the leaders of the party. Not only that, before the election, party members were said to have asked the national leadership to substitute the list of candidates with the names of the people known to be loyal because the body language of Bukola was said to be no longer favourable to the wellbeing of PDP. The minister was said to have leaked the secrets to his godfather who hurriedly asked that the election take place ahead of schedule.

These were the buildups against Abdullahi when he became an enfante terrible for the party men recently. He was alleged to be arrogant and snubbish.

A member told Sunday Mirror that, "he looks down on us with extreme contempt and often sees us as lepers that should be treated as second-class. When we are forced to take him up on his behaviours, he exhibits a knack for disdain and would rudely tell us that he is apolitical. He enjoys the slot of PDP as a member of the federal cabinet yet would not want to be seen relating with the owners of the same slot that he is enjoying. It is strange that his removal is generating remarks and comments by the same people who found him useful for their intents and purposes. Bolaji as a double agent in the federal executive council, having a strong loyalty to Saraki, the arrowhead of the opposition and at the same time a close confidant of the President is even dangerous in the security circle. In the advanced societies, he should by now be receiving drillings from the security agencies".

Political observers believe that if PDP members in the state are seen as the ex-minister's enemies on political grounds, he too appeared not to have help matters by his alleged arrogance and keeping a distance from his own people back home.

He, unlike other public officers from Ilorin, is said to be extremely stingy. He doesn't help people, particularly the youth, even as a Youth Minister, neither does he get involved in any developmental programmes of his community.

Sunday Mirror learnt that besides securing appointment by the grace of Bukola Saraki, his godfather, he cannot get any elective position because he had seriously alienated himself from the people, including friends. Sunday Mirror correspondent reports that his role as Commissioner for Education before becoming minister was said to be anti-people and humiliating to teachers in the state. He was said to have equally snubbed the elders of Ilorin and even the monarch of the town when his excesses were to be checked.

The last straw that broke the camel's back, however, was the President's visit. The minister as an indigene of the state and indeed that of Ilorin, who should have been on ground ahead of the day and be part of the preparations stayed away and only followed the President down on the day of the visit like others who accompanied the august visitor. While on the entourage, he still strangely walked in late into the Emir's palace when all others including the president were already seated. His remarks about the visit too were said to tally with the position of the APC in the state who had earlier described the visit as uncalled for and advised him to shelve it.

Bolaji entered the arena coldly and kept to himself all through. His case was worsened by the baqnners thatwere displayed by those who camne to welcome the president calling for his removal as minster, right in his home town and state.

Lending credence to the alleged double role of the erstwhile minister, his removal last week has become a political issue, which both the PDP in Kwara State and its rival APC have found as platform to engage in crossfire. While PDP saw the sack of the minister as an exercise long overdue, because they had persistently been expressing their discomfort with the continued retention of Abdullahi as minister representing the state, using the slot and yet working against the interest of the same party, APC on the other hand, saw his removal as a non-appreciation of the good works that the minister had done in the Ministry of Sports.

Publicity Secretary of APC, Sulyman Buhari, in a statement said while his party did not question the rights of Mr. President to hire and fire, the timing of Abdullahi's sack exhibited a political undertone coming immediately after the President visited the state to welcome new entrants into the party. He argued that the contribution and successes recorded by Abdullahi as minister should not be washed away on the pretext of political qualification because the service was not that of a party but to the nation.

Buhari said Kwara was proud of Abdullahi's role during his stint at the Ministry of Sports.

However, Mallam Mohammed Maraim Alhassan said it would have been honorable for the minister to have thrown in the towel before he was booted out the way it happened.

Alhassan said it was a known fact that Abdullahi was nominated for ministerial appointment by Senator Saraki as a PDP member. He added that it is also true that Saraki is the godfather who had been instrumental to whatever the ex-minister is today. It is also true that Saraki had chosen President Jonathan to fight and disparage in the most embarrassing manner while Abdullahi is still in the President's cabinet.

He added that the sacked minister too didn't do well by snubbing PDP members and telling them that he was not a member of the same PDP that he campaigned for during the governorship election in 2011and went to the floor of the National Assembly during his screening to defend. He argued that Abdullahi's success in the Sports ministry was a team work which he cannot lay claim to alone. He said before the minister could take the glory, Coach Stephen Keshi, Daniel Amokachi were the ones who worked hard to train the Super Eagles while the trio of Manu Garuba, Emmanuel Amunike and Nduka Ugbade worked hard for the Under-17 team. Besides, he said the President should be given all the credit because he was the one who provided an enabling atmosphere for them to work and as well rewarded the boys handsomely. If anything, Abdullahi was known to put up efforts to frustrate Keshi who, if not for his dedication and patriotism, would have resigned midway into the hour of glory for Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the former minister was said to have told his friends that anytime he completed his ministerial job, he would go home to start a quoranic work.