Hounded by EFCC Obanikoro officially dumps PDP for APC (Updated)

Former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has officially left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Obanikoro, a chieftain of the PDP, was said to have made public his defection to the ruling APC during an event in Lagos on Tuesday.

Presented along Obanikoro as new members of APC at the event was, Lukman Ajose, also a former chieftain of the PDP, who not long ago dumped PDP for APC.

News of Obanikoro’s proposed defection first came up in May, drawing different reactions from members of the PDP.

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A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, in his reaction then, had asked, “(Obanikoro) Where is your honour? Where is your strength? Where is your dignity? Where is your self-respect? Where is your sense of self-worth?”

Obanikoro is currently under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly receiving about N4.7billion from the office of the National Security Adviser.

He was said to have entered into plea bargain with the commission and has made some refunds.

Like Obanikoro, many PDP members, hounded by the EFCC, have continued to defect to the ruling APC. Among them are former state governors, Joshua Dariye, Plateau; Sullivan Chime, Enugu and Orji Uzo Kalu, Abia among some others.

However, Obanikoro in a series of tweets later in the day debunked the reports, and stated that he only attended a Town Hall meeting organised by Remi Tinubu because he is a “constituent of Lagos Central Senatorial District.

“Whatever the future holds politically for us, it will be openly done by us and seen by all but right now, please disregard those rumours.

“I commend Sen. Remi Tinubu once again as I continue to consult with my political associates and friends in Lagos, and also across Nigeria.

“My attendance has been insinuated wrongly in the media but all such speculations remain firmly in the realm of rumours and imaginations.

“As a Constituent of Lagos Central Senatorial District, I today attended Sen. Remi Tinubu’s Townhall Meeting to support her good work”.

 

 

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