On Tuesday, Musiliu Obanikoro, former Minister of State for Defence, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). No, he didn’t. Yes, he did.
Obanikoro himself has denied that he has officially left PDP. Back in May, there was a similar defection report. Again, he denied. But in all his denials, Obanikoro has never ruled out a move to APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); instead he keeps saying he won’t do it through the backdoor. There will be a big “press conference” where he would “announce it to the world”. It’s a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘whether’.
On Tuesday, the former Nigerian Ambassador to Ghana was “rumoured” to have joined APC alongside Lukman Ajose, another Lagos PDP chieftain. He has been accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of complicity in the arms fund scandal. Sylvan McNamara, a company allegedly owned by his sons, was said to have received N4.7bn from Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser (NSA) — money alleged to have been used to prosecute the 2015 general election.
Obanikoro won’t be the first under-trial-for-corruption PDP politician to defect to the APC, perhaps to find a safe haven.
Below are a few others:
ADEBAYO ALAO-AKALA
Shortly after placing third in the 2015 Oyo State governorship election, Alao-Akala, former Governor of the state, announced his defection from the Labour Party, the platform on which he contested, to the APC.
Akala is currently undergoing corruption trial at the Oyo State high court, accused alongside two others of conspiracy and misappropriation of N11.5 billion from the state’s treasury.
ORJI UZOR KALU
APC chieftains, including John Odigie-Oyegun, the National Chairman, were at the party’s headquarters in Abuja in November 2016 to welcome Kalu, a two-term governor of Abia State between 1999 and 2007 into the ruling party.
Kalu, alongside his company Slok Nigeria Limited, is facing a 34-count corruption charge at the Lagos State division of the federal high court. The charges border on money laundering and fraud amounting to N3.2 billion belonging to the Abia State government.
During his welcome party into the APC, he said: “I am coming in and God will help me to bring value. Between Sunday when I registered at Igbere and now, there are 4,000 members new members already registered with the APC in Abia.”
So far, Kalu’s trial has continued, but some Nigerians say it is just a matter of time before it is dumped as usual. Let’s hope they are wrong.
SULLIVAN CHIME
A little over a month ago, Sullivan Chime, former Enugu State Governor, also declared he was joining the APC.
“This is the only party that can take any politician to their destination and I pray that what happened to the PDP does not happen to APC,” he told a press conference in Enugu. “I am moving to the APC because a lot of people are looking up to me for direction.”
But two weeks later, EFCC said Chime was still under investigation over alleged acts of corruption relating to the N23bn campaign fund money involving Diezani Alison-Madueke, as well as other cases of alleged corrupt enrichment linked to his time in office.
MARTIN ELECHI
The 76-year-old former Governor of Ebonyi State announced he was dumping the PDP on April 9, at an elaborate ceremony in his hometown, Ikwo, Ebonyi State.
He hinged the move on his love for Buhari and the current state of the PDP, occasioned by its protracted crisis.
He said: “I knew Buhari 49 years ago when I started the movement for the creation of Ebonyi as he intervened during my arrest with nine other comrades, by officers of the defunct Nigerian Security Organisation, NSO.”
After leaving office in 2015,Elechi was questioned by the EFCC on allegations of corruption and fraud but was granted bail the following day. Not much has been heard of the allegation since.
IFEANYI UBAH
It also said that while in detention, the chairman of Capital oil and Gas Limited “undermined national security and public order” through his conduct. However, the businessman, however, filed a lawsuit against the security agency for detaining him “unlawfully”.