If there is one thing the former Minister of State for defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, loves doing now that his party Peoples Democratic Party is out of power, it is riding bicycle. The ex-ambassador to Ghana, fondly called Koro, sources said, now rides bicycle in the morning and evening to the amusement of his neighbours in Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, where he resides.
Tag: Musiliu Obanikoro
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Obanikoro goes to school
A former Minister of State for Defence and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Musiliu Obanikoro, said yesterday that he is studying for a degree in History at a United States (U.S.) university.
He said having served in government at all levels, he wanted to put himself in a position to mentor the country’s next generation of leaders.
In a Facebook post yesterday, which was a reaction to the report by online medium Sahara Reporters that he had absconded to escape arrest, Obanikoro wrote: “My aspirations now therefore are to seek further education as I am doing in pursuit of a degree in History at the Oglethorpe University based in Georgia USA and to mentor the next generation of leaders in Nigeria.”
He added: “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t dignify SaharaReporters with a response to the baseless and shameful journalism it practices, but there is a limit even to new media madness.
“Dragging my children into your deliberate campaign and onslaught against my person, however, will not be ignored and I demand you cease and refrain from this practice and limit your scope to me only.
“For the record, I have been in public service since 1992, and I have never owned or currently own a home anywhere in the world outside Nigeria. However, I am proud of my son and his family who are private citizens for their accomplishment as they have the right to do so.
“I still have a case against @SaharaReporters and its owner filed at their “Hide Out” in the State of New York, and this will certainly add to the body of evidence against this hack-journalism platform.
“Perhaps this is in retaliation to the suit, but be rest assured, I won’t be deterred and will pursue this to a logical conclusion…”
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Senate screens Obanikoro, seven other nominees Wednesday
Former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro and seven other ministerial nominees would on Wednesday appear before the Senate for screening and possible confirmation of their appointments.
Obanikoro, who is a nominee from Lagos State, had resigned his appointment to contest the Peoples Democratic Party governorship primaries in the state and lost to Mr. Jimmy Agbaje.
President Goodluck Jonathan had forwarded his name to the Senate to be screened and confirmed for reappointment alongside seven other nominees last week.
Also to be screened are – Senator Patricia Akawashiki (Nasarawa), Prof. Nicholas Akis Ada (Benue), Col. Augustine Okwudiri Akobundu (rtd) (Abia), Engr. Fidelis Nwankwo (Ebonyi), Mrs. Hauwa’u Lawan (Jigawa), ) Mr. Kenneth Kobani (Rivers) and Senator Joel Danlami Ikenya (Taraba).
Findings by our correspondents indicated that the opposition Senators are spoiling to stop Obanikoro’s nomination due to unwholesome role he allegedly played during the Ekiti State governorship election last year.
Obanikoro was said to have used his position to unduly influence the military to manipulate the conduct of the election in favour of the PDP candidate, Mr. Ayo Fayose.
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‘Enough of Obanikoro in FEC’
A group, Yoruba Youth Congress (YCC), has urged the National Assembly to reject the nomination and screening of former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro.
In a statement in Akure, the Ondo State capital, YCC’s National President Dapo Adepoju wondered why President Goodluck Jonathan always related with people of “questionable character”.
Adepoju said: “Going by Obanikoro’s antecedent, particularly his recent activities as a junior minister, he used his position to humiliate innocent Nigerians, especially during the Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections.
“The ministerial-nominee’s involvement in the Ekiti election saga, where he allegedly colluded with some military officers and notable Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders to rig the poll in favour of Governor Ayodele Fayose was unpatriotic and condemnable.
“In other climes, Obanikoro would have been probed for his role in the tension-soaked elections in Ekiti and Osun rather than being pacified with a ministerial nomination.
“We wonder if there are no more qualified PDP members other than Obanikoro. This development is ridiculous and disturbing.”
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Koro for minister!
Musiliu Obanikoro, ex-this, ex-that, former and aspiring minister, made things easy and sweet on the stumps when he renamed himself Koro, a shot-gun, short-and-sweet, two-syilable abbreviation of the five-syllable, clanging original.
But the problem is when accented somewhat, Koro could in Yoruba mean “bitter”, though that is not the meaning — or taste! — of the original name.
Could this then be why the ex-chairman, Lagos Island Local Government, ex-commissioner in Lagos State, ex-senator of the Federal Republic, ex-minister of the Federal Republic, ex-failed gubernatorial candidate and aspirant, and ex-Nigeria High Commissioner to Ghana tends to leave a bitter taste in the mouth, in his many public involvements?
Koro exited his Lagos Island council chair in a blaze of controversy, crossed, with his Alliance for Democracy (AD)-secured Lagos central senatorial mandate to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); then, on PDP platform, came back for an imperious gubernatorial demand: Koro for governor! Of course, that ended in electoral disaster — and just as well, for Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, his conqueror back then in 2007, has proved, for Lagos and indeed, the whole country, a splendid revelation.
The same bitterness plagued his tenure as junior Defence minister, with the Army portfolio. As minister, Koro’s matter of urgent national importance was marshalling his soldiers to disrupt work at the Ilubirin Lagos Homs project, his own ground-breaking idea of a Lagos boy telling Lagos that he was not only in government, he was in power! But it is payback time right now, for his Abuja principal now runs from pillar to post in Lagos, and the rest of the Southwest, searching for votes he wilfully threw away!
Then came the 2014 Ekiti governorship election, and Koro upped a rising ministerial notoriety with a tag-team partnership with Jelili Adesiyan, Police Affairs minister, using their combined Army and Police troops to muscle voters in Ekiti and Osun elections, in brazen display of illicit federal might, under the guise of securing these elections.
The ploy worked in Ekiti, and the utterly disgraceful Ayo Fayose is the result; but was foiled in Osun, despite its “initial gra-gra”, as they would say on Lagos streets.
Indeed, allegations from the Ekiti rigging audiotape scandal would suggest Ekiti as, so far, the bitterest in Koro’s chequered public career. The tape, secretly recorded by Capt. Sagir Koli, an intelligence officer under the suborned Brig-Gen. Aliyu Momoh (from allegations from the tape), captured Koro, Adesiyan, Fayose, Iyiola Omisore, and other PDP partisans, at a meeting in Fayose’s Spotless Hotel, Ado Ekiti, pillorying Momoh for not executing their rigging plans effectively enough.
Koro has, of course, denied all; and once threatened a legal suit against Saharareporters that broke the news. But it is not looking sweet — for those who first denied there was any such meeting have changed their story, insisting though that the meeting was not meant to rig! President Goodluck Jonathan, in whose name Koro’s voice claimed it was acting, has all but dismissed the tape as alleged fabrication. He, however, admitted he had not listened to it. So, what was the basis for his judgement?
Anyway, it so happens Koro covets being minister again. Jonathan has agreed, scandal or no scandal — but why is no one surprised? But the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is calling on the Senate to block Koro’s nomination, at least pending a forensic probe.
Koro for minister! That isn’t sounding so sweet right now, is it?
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Northern leaders to blame for Boko Haram insurgency – Obanikoro
Former Minister of state for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has ascribed the emergence of the Boko Haram sect on the failure of northern leaders to invest in education of their people over the years.
He said lack of education and development of the young ones in that part of the country accounted for crises in region unlike in the Southwest where relative peace prevails.
Obanikoro said the prevailing peace in Yorubaland was a product of investment efforts of the former Premier of the Western Region, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, on his people.
He spoke at Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, during the inauguration of a Civic Centre donated to the institution by a House of Representatives member from Ogun state, Abiodun Akinlade.
He, however, noted that President Goodluck Jonathan is tackling the lapses in the region by building Almajiri schools which are meant to pull children of school age off the streets.
The ex-minister said, “We have Boko Haram today because the leaders in that part of the country did not invest in the education of their youths.
“President Goodluck Jonathan is already addressing this by constructing 123 Almajiri schools in four years.”
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Bode George lacks capacity to call for peace – Obanikoro
Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has again lambasted the party’s southwest leader, Olabode George, describing him as one without capacity for peace.
Obanikoro, who is the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Lagos State, was responding to George’s call for peace following commotion that has engulfed the state chapter of the party after Monday’s governorship primaries in the state.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Obanikoro accused George of orchestrating the violence that marred the primaries, describing his call for peace as hypocritical.
Obanikoro said, “Chief Bode George has no capacity for peace and unity in Lagos PDP when he is the major architect of violence and confusion in the first place.“His call for peace is a desperate attempt to get the attention of President Goodluck Jonathan to take him seriously as a responsible leader of Lagos PDP. Unfortunately, Bode George is a man far from anything responsible, peaceful or honourable.
“His introduction of religious bias and sentiment into Lagos PDP by asking delegates to vote for a Christian, instead of a Muslim candidate, is dangerous for the peaceful cohesion of Lagos PDP and totally condemnable.
“I warned Chief Bode George to steer clear of the electoral process and stand as an unbiased umpire but he opted for the path of dishonor and threw himself into the ring. The result is the sham of gubernatorial primaries that has subjected our party in Lagos State to an unprecedented public ridicule.
“Where is Chief Bode George’s honor if after manipulating an election where 806 delegates produced 863 votes?
“Now, he is calling for peace and unity.”
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Obanikoro challenges eligibility suit
Former Minister of State for Defence Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has challenged the suit asking the court to stop him from contesting the just concluded governorship primaries of the People Democratic Party (PDP) or any other election in the future.
Despite his loss at the party primaries on Monday, Obanikoro filed a preliminary objection to the suit by some members of his party- Michael Babatunde Ogun, Suleiman Olayinka Saheed and Wasiu Adeniyi Odusan.
In his application, the PDP aspirant through his counsel, Gbenga Ojo, urged the court to strike out or dismiss the originating summons, describing it as an abuse of court process.
He also asked for an order striking out or dismissing the originating summons, which he said does not disclose reasonable cause of action.
Obanikoro based his objection on four grounds and prayed the court to determine the matter based on the grounds of his preliminary objection to the suit.
Ojo told the court that all the documents relied upon by the applicants are “either uncertified public document or documents printed from internet without authentication of the source or certification.
The application objecting to the suit also described “the entire case as speculative and abuse of the process of the court”.
At the resumed hearing yesterday, the applicants’ counsel, Wahab Shittu, said they were prepared to move the originating summons since the matter was slated for hearing.
But Obanikoro’s counsel told the court that there was no need to proceed with the matter since his client lost the governorship primary election.
At this stage, Justice Alogba referred Ojo to the relief sought by the applicants in their originating summons.
The applicants sought an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the first defendant from participating in the governorship primaries of the PDP held last Monday “or in the alternative, of any of the registered political parties in Nigeria”.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) counsel, Juliana Nnamdi, said the commission received the summons yesterday morning at its Lagos office and needed time to respond.
She asked for an adjournment to enable it file necessary papers.
PDP counsel Samson Ozah also told the court that the party was yet to file any process as he only got instruction to appear in court yesterday morning.
Justice Kazeem Alogba adjourned the matter till January 14 for hearing of the originating summons.
He ordered all parties to file all applications before the adjourned date, warning “I would not tolerate any further request for adjournment in view of the nature of the case”.
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Obanikoro seeks special status for Lagos
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Musiliu Obanikoro, has called for a special status for Lagos State.
He said this yesterday while officially declaring his intention to contest the governorship election at the National Stadium, Surulere.
The former Minister of State for Defence praised Governor Raji Fashola for the projects but noted that most beneficiaries were the rich and affluent.
He said: “There is nowhere in the world a mega city manages its affairs without other tiers of government. I will meet with the Federal Government and the National Assembly to give Lagos a special status.
“Security is very important in Lagos if we plan to achieve a 24-hour economy, we must have 24-hour security.
“The challenges ahead will not come easy. It is going to be stiff and tough but we are going to have a new Lagos where there will be leadership academy for our children, who will take over from us.
“Let me appreciate Governor Babatunde Fashola for how he handled the affairs of Lagos in the past eight years. But the major beneficiaries of his eight years are the rich and affluent.
“It is time for us to spend money on roads in Animasaun, Shomolu, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Ibeju-Lekki where the masses are. We can only have a good Lagos when the masses are happy.”
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Obanikoro’s campaign of self- indictment
The PDP veteran of governorship candidate in Lagos State, Musiliu Obanikoro, has indulged in online self-advertisement for some months now. Not many Nigerian active Facebook patrons would have missed his celebration of the military as Minister of State of the Defence Ministry. Whatever Obanikoro has claimed the military has done are questions that will be asked later here.
‘Koro’ as he is popularly called, has since commenced the campaign for the Lagos State governorship office. The Texas, United States-trained Obanikoro has flaunted the recent honour done him by his alma mater in the United States. The grounds of the award were not quite explicitly presented though, but as usual a good photo opportunity was not missed. How much Koro’s supposed learning experience has impacted on the opportunities availed him in government is what is not known. Koro missed sharing this with the world through the reach Facebook availed him.
The former high commissioner to Ghana has since begun to complement his online adventure with the conventional campaign exercise. The bogus campaign secretariat in the elite GRA of Ikeja is unmistakable for neighbours and any passer-by. It is adorned with the bold message of the love for the government house in Alausa. The message: Greater vision for Lagos. And one begins to wonder if Koro could not do better than just echo one of the numerous APC bidders for the same office. For the APC aspirant, specifically, Adeyemi Kuforiji, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, it is a legitimate claim. After all, he has been part of the chorusing crowd of the eko o ni baje catch phrase of his party. And they all seemed to have collaborated to demonstrate their belief in that philosophy. But what is the justification for Koro’s almost plagiarist’s copy?
Unknown to Koro perhaps, his campaign copy displayed on the wall of the campaign secretariat is defeatist. As a student of language, I was struck by the fact that Koro volunteered to endorse the sitting government. As a result, he seems to have rather mounted a campaign for the APC as a party no matter whoever emerges the governorship candidate. To many Lagosians however, including this writer, Koro is only being factual even if willy-nilly.
While trying to settle down as the governor of the state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had left no one in the dark about his ambition to emulate Chief Obafemi Awolowo as a pro-people politician. He actually installed a public spectacle within the government secretariat displaying a bold photograph of Gandhi, Awolowo and himself wearing similar eye-glasses to convince whoever was still in doubt. Clearly, Koro, like this writer, has been a living witness to the great turn-around Lagos has recorded under Asiwaju and his successor.
Prior to Tinubu’s governorship era in Lagos, the movement of the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja notwithstanding, the traffic situation had become hellish, routinely manifesting lockdown. The preceding administrations could not think through it at all. The odd-even number separatist policy for vehicles going to the Island achieved only very little. Tinubu smartly sprang into action to start what has become a model for all fast growing cities in Nigeria in the form of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA. Today, even as LASTMA has been infiltrated by a few bad eggs, it has done so well restoring sanity to the congested Lagos roads. And if there is any convincingly demonstrative case of the need for continuity in government, it resides in the APC legacy in Lagos State. Tinubu charted further path of sanity for transportation in Lagos with the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). And now, road sweeping culture initiated by the APC in Lagos has since extended to Kwara and even beyond. The greatest global testimony to Tinubu’s vision for Lagos is perhaps is the emergence of Lagos as one of the three cities in the world selected by the Ford Foundation as priority cases for its about to be launched Just Cities Programme.
But Koro was part of what has transformed into APC family for some time, some may wish to note. He seemed to be an irregular though while his romance with the group lasted. He was a beneficiary of that old group’s popularity. He was a commissioner and even a local government chair. However, Koro would rather want Lagosians to delete their memory of his supposed service years in these two offices. He is probably best remembered as the chairman of Lagos Island Local Government when the imposing secretariat got burnt in controversial circumstances. The great Lagos Koro is now implying in his campaign therefore bears no iota of his imprint in spite of the uncommon opportunities. Rather unashamedly, like the proverbial lord of misrule, he was Minister of State in the Defence Ministry when soldiers let hell loose on his fellow Lagosians, burning the BRT buses that have availed them with a great deal of relief. Worse, Koro was a party to the official denial of the soldiers’ rampage documented by many in this age of affordable cameras in different shapes and sizes. But the same state the army of occupation had ambushed has continued to be well nurtured to be great, defying all attacks and manifest with the blessings of the eko o ni baje prayers of the well wishers. Does Koro fit into the group of these well wishers? Yet, the Sambisa forest of shield for Boko Haram remains impenetrable for these same soldiers who swore to reverse the greatness of Lagos duly recognised by their minister.
Unfortunately for Koro he has a most shiny parallel in the fellow islander and ageless Prince Ademola Adeniji-Adele who has flaunted his all-time socio-political relevance. Until very recently he was Sports Commissioner in the government of Fasola. Clearly, the popularity of street soccer which has gone a long way to liberalise access to opportunities for the grassroots in Lagos State is the initiative of this democrat. Though a much earlier chairman of the Lagos Island Local Government, the pleasant memory of Adeniji-Adele’s reign as chairman still lingers. He has since remained a darling of many Islanders, indeed many Nigerians. Who will forget the most daring hosting by Adeniji-Adele of the historic Epetedo victory declaration by Basorun MKO Abiola, the winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election? Though a prince, Adeniji-Adele left no one in doubt that he had a deep understanding of the social challenges in his immediate environment. The area boys perceived as wild miscreants could be tamed as far as he was concerned so the society could be the better for it. He started trade learning schemes for them and initiated several other reform measures. The Prince turned chairman also introduced a transportation system that provided for free rides for senior citizens. The Gold grade coaster buses introduced by Adeniji-Ademola also had air conditioners to provide for the comfort of passengers in line with the world’s best practices. Koro and his other successors did not seem to find the legacy sustainable. Adeniji-Adele’s interventions to the unique challenges of Lagos Island have remained unmatched several years after. He still remains a loyal faithful of the party in the state.
PDP will perhaps do APC a lot of favour by fielding Obanikoro, currently its most visible candidate. His campaign is clearly dead on arrival as he never seemed to realize the need to cultivate and nurture a supportive platform for his governorship aspiration. If only Koro knew he would need the people again for some personal ambition…
- Akanni is a Lagos based development consultant.