Former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, may have made up his mind to dump the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and pitch his political tent with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), The Nation reports.
Koro, as he is fondly called, according to reliable sources, has been making overtures to leaders of the ruling party as part of efforts towards his joining the APC.
Baring last minute changes, the former governorship candidate of the PDP will join APC in a matter of days. According to sources within the ruling party in Lagos State, leaders of the APC will be discussing the defection plan of Obanikoro this week. The decision to look into his request to join the party followed what some sources described as a positive nod from the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
A close family source who did not want to be named told SIGNAL on Saturday, the former High Commissioner to Ghana is considering the move even though nothing has been officially concluded.
Reacting to the development, a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode who himself defected from PDP to APC in 2013 and later returned to PDP in 2014 said he is saddened by Obanikoro’s decision to join the APC. In a statement on Sunday, Fani-Kayode said; “My brother Musiliu Obanikoro’s decision to join the APC irks and saddens me. I say this because I have always loved him and I care. You cannot fight evil by joining it. You cannot bring light by entering the darkness. You cannot find joy by partaking in the bread of sorrows.
“You cannot run away in the heat of battle. You must have the courage of your convictions. Where is your honor? Where is your strength? Where is your dignity? Where is your self-respect? Where is your sense of self-worth?
“You and I are royalty. We are Princes and Kings and children of the Living God. We were taught and brought up to fight to the end and never to bow to the enemy. We were taught never to flinch before oppression. We were taught never to give in to our worst fears and to those who hate us and who despise our people. We were taught never to crawl on the floor and be slaves to our fellow men.
“Always remember that rebellion against a tyrant is an act of obedience to God. They may have today but tomorrow belongs to us. Finally take note of this: if you are not ready to die for something then you are not worthy of living for anything.
“I would rather die a free man than live a slave. And as long as I live the Yoruba, nay the south, shall offer some form of resistance to our collective oppressors and as surely as God lives we shall never be slaves.”
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