Contrary to earlier
denials, embattled ministerial nominee, Musiliu Obanikoro, has confessed to
several Senators in Abuja that he did participate in an election-eve meeting in
Ekiti in June 2014, to rig the governorship election in favor of Ayodele
Fayose, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The meeting, which is
now known as “Ekitigate”, was secretly taped by an army captain who was
subsequently forced to flee for his life.
Despite the scandal,
President Jonathan went ahead to nominate Obanikoro into his cabinet for
the second time, and the nominee is lobbying the Senators to give him a pass
during his upcoming nomination hearing. It is in the process
that he has confessed to some of them that he was indeed present at
the rigging meeting in Akure, on behalf of the President, to ensure that
everything went smoothly.
Obanikoro’s story is
that he was simply making “peace” between the army and Ayo Fayose at the
meeting, claiming that he was not party to any conversation about
rigging. On the contrary, Obanikoro, who was at the time junior Minister
for Defence, is overheard clearly on the tape bragging about the authority
granted him by President Jonathan.
Prior to admitting his
involvement to the Senators, the former minister met with President Jonathan to
discuss the tape and his role. A presidency source said Obanikoro told
President Jonathan he was present at the meeting but that a part of the
audio-recording was “doctored”.
They said President
Jonathan had called him to the meeting to discuss how to mitigate the damage
created by the leaked tape. He told the Senators categorically
that it was Jonathan himself who had sent him to Ekiti to help Fayose win the
election. On the tape, Obanikoro says, at least twice, that he is on a
“mission” for the President.
He also reportedly told
President Jonathan at their meeting that he had asked his US-based lawyers to
do a separate voice analysis of the tape and that the lawyers came back with
“proof” that certain aspects of the tape had been doctored by SaharaReporters
to make the regime look bad. Counting on that assurance, President
Jonathan told a team of reporters from the Wall Street Journal during an interview that
the tapes were not real and that he would not investigate the incident.
Obanikoro also told
President Jonathan that his US-based lawyers had assured him that they could
file some cases against SaharaReporters in the US to “teach
SaharaReporters and its publisher, Omoyele Sowore” a lesson. He explained to
the president that with enough financial support, his lawyers would file the
case and also employ private detectives to take down SaharaReporters. President
Jonathan reportedly nodded at the idea, and asked Obanikoro not to worry.
Following that meeting,
the former Minister began a series of legal threats last week claiming to have
sued SaharaReporters, as well as The Punch newspaper and Premium Times, both in
Lagos. Up until now, those newspapers are yet to be served copies of the
lawsuit.
It is to be noted that
two other key participants at the meeting, Police Minister Jelili Adesiyan and
Ayo Fayose, the beneficiary of the Ekiti governorship rigging, have
admitted that they were at the meeting that was taped by the army captain.
