At a
meeting with the Federal Executive Council in Abuja on Wednesday, President Jonathan
deploy the Obanikoro the former Minister of Defence to the position of
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs II, a position harshly lower in prestige
the his former position
Several civil society groups, columnists and opposition
senators had opposed Obanikoro’s nomination on account of his involvement in an
illegal scheme to use the military to rig last year’s governorship election in
Ekiti State.
Before his ministerial nomination, Reports had
said Obanikoro and some PDP men ordered Brigadier General A.A. Momoh to have
his troops detain supporters of incumbent Governor Kayode Fayemi ( now former)
in order to boost the electoral prospects of the PDP’s governorship candidate,
Ayo Fayose, Sahara Reporters had the auto-tape which went viral and delayed his
appointment as a Minister.
A source at the Presidency told Sahara Reporters that President Jonathan was so
shaken by the widespread and strong opposition to his nomination of Obanikoro
as a minister that he decided to assign the controversial former minister to
one of the most obscure cabinet posts. “Even PDP stakeholders in Lagos and the
southwest were against Musiliu Obanikoro,” the source disclosed.
During his stint as junior Defense minister, Obanikoro had access to a full
range of military arsenal, which included naval choppers that ferried him
around Lagos whenever he visited the state.
Obanikoro’s new humiliating post is equivalent to an ambassadorship, a source
within the cabinet said.
Source: Olufamus
