THERE is always the other side of life. There is the sunny side – bright and seductive. There is the cloudy side – dull, damp and drab. Some PDP chiefs surely know the difference after their largest party in Africa failed to retain power and, thereby, lost its foundation to rule for 60 years – in the first instance. Now, the party is in disarray, its leadership in tatters and his followership confused.
Thousands of miles away from all this, Musiliu Obanikoro, former Lagos Island council chairman – yes, he was, when the landmark City Hall was set on fire – former commissioner, former governorship candidate, former minister and now proud owner of a Masters Degree in History – a subject that has been unjustifically elbowed out of the school curricula here.
He has been mentioned severally among those who allegedly turned the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) into a huge Automated Teller Machine (ATM) which dispensed cash like a faulty gambling machine.
Koro, as many of his admirers call him – others call him “Koro Ibo”, the one who has the magic of swinging elections, “Ibo” being the Yoruba word for “ballot”, although he is not known to have won any major election — insists he has no invitation from the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
If they want him, he said, he would simply tell them he is busy at school.
Now Koro has made history. Of all the PDP big wigs, only he has gone to school to beg a masters. Others have been visiting the EFCC or going to court to clear their names on one allegation or the other. Former PDP Chair Haliru Bello was wheeled to court (his son was also there to answer some charges). Former spokesman Olisah Metuh vomited the other day and he is now begging the court to allow him go overseas to attend to his health. Femi “big mouth” Fani-Kayode is cooling off at the EFCC where he is explaining all he knows about N480m he was said to have received during the failed battle to save the Jonathan presidency.
Koro may have been disturbed by the sudden ouster of his party from power, but his academic fortune seems to have been better for it. He now plans to enroll for a doctorate degree. How sweet are the uses of adversity – to quote the bard in “As you like it”.
By the time Koro is done and be Senator Obanikoro becomes Dr Obanikoro, the EFCC may have been tired of probing his role in the pre-election cash carnival. Even as his former colleagues are troubled by their party hobbled by fierce clash of ambitious, Lagos boy Koro has made history.