Former Minister of State for Defense, Musiliu
Obanikoro, was yesterday forced to leave the Nigerian Senate after arriving
there with his family to start his confirmation hearings. Mr. Obanikoro,
a former senator and ambassador to Ghana, had arrived at the National
Assembly with a retinue of aides and family members to begin
confirmation hearings after
The embattled former minister of state for defence, had resigned his
appointment last year October to contest the governorship seat in Lagos,
on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
He lost to Jimi Agbaje and after initially decrying his loss as a fraud and instituting a legal challenge, he dramatically withdrew his suit in a Federal High Court, in Abuja.
He lost to Jimi Agbaje and after initially decrying his loss as a fraud and instituting a legal challenge, he dramatically withdrew his suit in a Federal High Court, in Abuja.
READ MORE AFTER THE CUT.............................................
He was subsequently nominated as a minister, by President Goodluck Jonathan.
But the nomination is facing a barrage of criticisms aa Obanikoro is mired in the scandal of working in cahoot with the military to rig the 21 June election in Ekiti state, last year, in favour of Governor Ayodele Fayose.
An audio, documenting the rigging plan, with Brigadier Aliyu Momoh of the Nigerian army has gone viral, further fuelling public resentment against deploying the military for poll duties.
President Goodluck Jonathan has had to reverse his position on the scandal.
Several senators said that the mood in the Senate was
so hostile to Mr. Obanikoro’s nomination that his sponsors, sensing
imminent defeat for him, quickly arranged a suspension of the hearing to
spare him a grueling session and likely public disgrace.
Mr. Obanikoro is expected to return to the Senate next week Tuesday
to restart the process. A PDP senator disclosed that many of his
colleagues were not happy that President Jonathan did not withdraw
Obanikoro’s name as a ministerial nominee after the former minister’s
involvement in a scandal that has assumed international dimensions.
Saharareporters.com
Saharareporters.com
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