![]() |
Musiliu Obanikoro | |
---|---|
Senator for Lagos Central | |
In office 3 June 2003 –5 June 2007 Servingwith Adeleke Mamora and Tokunbo Afikuyomi | |
Preceded by | Tokunbo Afikuyomi |
Succeeded by | Munirudeen Muse |
Minister of State for Defence | |
In office 2014 –October 2014 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Musiliu Babatunde Obanikoro Lagos |
Nationality | Nigerian |
Political party | All Progressive Congress (Nigeria) (APC) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) until November 2017 |
Alma mater | Texas Southern University |
Profession | Politician |
Musiliu Babatunde Obanikoro( Listen ) (popularly known as Koro) is a Nigerian politician. He served as Senator for Lagos Central from 2003 to 2007,and was later appointed High Commissioner to Ghana. He briefly served as minister of State for Defence in 2014.
Musiliu Olatunde Obanikoro was born in Lagos. He attended Saint Patrick Catholic School (Idumagbo,Lagos) and Ahmadiyya College (Anwar-ul/Islam College;Agege). While in the United States,he attended Texas Southern University where he earned his B.Sc degree in Public Affairs and Master's Degree in Public Administration (M.P.A). [1]
He served as an intern with Houston adult Probation Department,Houston,Texas. He worked as a social worker and later as the Head of the adolescent unit with Little Flower Children Service (an agency affiliated with New York City Department of Social Service). [1]
He returned to Nigeria in 1989 and started his political career immediately. He was appointed as Caretaker Committee Chairman of Surulere Local Government (National Republican Convention);he was elected as the State Deputy Chairman (NRC);appointed by Governor Otedola’s administration as Director,LASBULK (Lagos State Bulk Purchasing Corporation);and member,Lagos State Football Association. He has served as Delegate to Local Government Congress,State Congress,and National Convention. He has also served as Elected State Secretary,Justice Forum. He was also the Chairman,Lagos Island Local Government. [1] He was a national Executive member,Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) under the military government of General Sani Abacha. [2]
He was appointed State Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture in 1999 and served for four years before he was elected Senator of the Federal republic of Nigeria. [3]
Musiliu Obanikoro was elected senator for Lagos Central in April 2003,running for the Alliance for Democracy (AD). During the election,each side accused the other of hijacking ballot boxes. He later defected to the People's Democratic Party (PDP). [3] [4]
He was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo as a member of the 2004 Amirul-Hajj Committee. In February 2005,Obanikoro was among senators who urged the African Union chairman,President Olusegun Obasanjo,to use military force if necessary to restore democracy in Togo. [5]
As Senator,Musiliu Obanikoro proposed motions on the surge and overflow of the Atlantic Ocean along the Bar beach shoreline,to stop the incessant increments in pump prices of petroleum products,to protect Lagos State from the menace of flood,to probe into the condition of the velodrome at the National Stadium (Abuja),and for the resolution of the clash between men of the Nigerian Police Force and men of the Nigerian Army in Lagos State. [6] He sponsored several bills,calling for acts to regulate and control public Buildings,to regulate and control the dredging and excavating of land,to provide for the re-certification of Fuel Pumps,to prevent Casualisation in public and private Establishment,and to amend the Federal Capital Territory Act.[ citation needed ]
During the OPP (Obanikoro Priority Projects),hundreds of items were given out to his constituents,including motor bikes,milling machines,popcorn machines,[ clarification needed ] sewing machines,assorted farming tools,telephone lines and phones,etc. [7]
In making education a priority,the Senator established the Senator Obanikoro Leadership and Education Project (SOLEP). Under this programme he supplied textbooks,notebooks,forms and scholarship funding. [8]
He is currently in partnership with a US-based NGO (AWHPI) to set up a mammogram centre that will enable women to test for breast cancer for free in Lagos. [9]
In July 2006,Funsho Williams,who was seeking to become PDP candidate for the Lagos State governorship election,was murdered. Police investigating the case arrested all gubernatorial aspirants of the party including Obanikoro. All were later released for non-involvement. [10]
In April 2007 Musiliu Obanikoro ran for governor of Lagos State on the PDP ticket,but lost the election to Babatunde Fashola of the Action Congress. [3] The election was marred by violence. In one incident,Musiliu Obanikoro was said to have narrowly escaped death in an armed attack on his car in Ikeja. [11] His nomination as PDP candidate was controversial. Hilda Williams,widow of the murdered Engineer Funsho Williams,had been declared winner of the Lagos PDP primaries,but the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) led by Ahmadu Ali gave the ticket to Obanikoro. The disunited PDP under Bode George also lost the Lagos State Senate and all but one House of Representatives and 37 State House of Assembly seats to the AC. [12]
In a newspaper interview in July 2007,Obanikoro called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Lagos State,claiming that infrastructures and values had completely collapsed. [13]
President Umaru Yar'Adua appointed Musiliu Obanikoro as Nigerian High commissioner to Ghana in May 2008. [14]
Divisions between factions in the Lagos State PDP which had surfaced before the 2007 elections continued until a series of meeting in October 2009,where the differences were resolved. [15]
Following the 2015 news scandal involving illegal diversion of $2billion of funds meant to fight the Boko Haram insurgency,authorities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested Obanikoro and slammed him with money laundering charges. [16] He later described to authorities how he used his office to divert five million dollars (about N1.8 billion) from public funds meant for purchase of arms to top personalities and figures such as former Governor of Ekiti State in Nigeria,Ayodele Fayose. [16]
Olusegun Kokumo Agagu was a Nigerian politician who was governor of Ondo State in Nigeria from 29 May 2003 until February 2009,when a court voided his re-election as governor on account of electoral irregularities. He was replaced as governor by Olusegun Mimiko,his political rival,based on a court injunction. He was a member of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Peter Ayodele Fayose is a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Ekiti State from 2003 to 2006,and again from 2014 to 2018.
Anthony Olufunsho Williams was an influential Nigerian politician from Lagos State and former Commissioner under Colonel Olagunsoye Oyinlola's Military Administration in Lagos.
Adetunji Idowu Ishola Olurin mni was a Nigerian general who served as the military Governor of Oyo State from 1985 to 1988 and Field Commander of ECOMOG Peacekeeping Force in Liberia from 1992 to 1993 during the First Liberian Civil War. Olurin retired from service in 1993,and was a member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was administrator of Ekiti State from 8 October 2006 until 27 April 2007.
Mohammed Magoro is a retired Major General of the Nigerian army who was twice a government minister,under Generals Obasanjo and Buhari. In the April 2011 elections he was elected Senator for the Kebbi South constituency of Kebbi State,Nigeria.
Jerry Gana,is a Nigerian scholar,politician and one time senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1983 then Director for the Directorate of Food,Roads and Infrastructure (DFRRI).He was the director of the Mass Mobilization for Social Justice and Economic Recovery,popularly known as MAMSER under Ibrahim Babangida,then Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources,in the Interim National Government under Ernest Shonekan. Later he became Minister of Information and Culture under General Sani Abacha,then Minister of Corporation and Integration in Africa under Olusegun Obasanjo as well as being Minister of Information and national Orientation. He also served as Political Adviser to Olusegun Obasanjo,before announcing plans to run for president in June 2006.
Wilfred Olabode Olajumoke is a Nigerian politician who was a member of the Senate of Nigeria for Ondo State from 2007 to 2011.
Farida Mzamber Waziri is a Nigerian technocrat,law enforcement officer and former executive chairperson of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) She succeeded Nuhu Ribadu in this post.
Alhaji Musiliu Adeola Kunbi Smith,is a former Inspector General of Police of Nigeria appointed in May 1999,who retired in March 2002 following a police strike.
Olabode Ibiyinka GeorgeListen is a Nigerian politician who became Military Governor of Ondo State,and later Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority,then national vice-chairman in the southwest zone of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Jonathan Tunde OgbehaListen is a Nigerian politician and retired brigadier general who served as the administrator of Akwa Ibom State and then of Bendel State during the military rule of General Ibrahim Babangida (1985–1993). After the return to democracy in 1999,he was elected senator for the Kogi West constituency of Kogi State from May 1999 to May 2007. A biography on Ogbeha titled "Jonathan Tunde Ogbeha:A Noble Path" was written by Innocent Nzeke Waniko,a journalist,and presented publicly on 1 September 2017. The book chronicles the early life and comprehensively captures the life and career of Ogbeha.
Kingsley Adeseye Ogunlewe(Listen) is a Nigerian politician,he is from a royal family of Igbogbo,he was elected Senator on the Alliance for Democracy (AD) platform in 1999 for the Lagos East constituency,before he defected to the PDP. He later became the Minister of Works from July 2003 to March 2006. When he was sacked from this position by President Olusegun Obasanjo,it was said to be due to a feud with his former patron,Bode George,the Deputy National Chairman of the PDP.
Liyel Imokelisten is a Nigerian politician who served as the governor of Cross River State,Nigeria from 29 May 2007 till 29 may 2015. He is a member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
The Nigerian High Commission in Accra is the primary diplomatic mission of Nigeria in Ghana. It is on 20/21 Onyasia Crescent Roman Ridge in Accra. The previous High Commissioner was former Senator for Lagos Central Musiliu Olatunde Obanikoro,appointed by President Umaru Yar'Adua in May 2008.
Lawali Shuaibu is a Nigerian politician who was elected senator for the Zamfara North Senatorial District of Zamfara State,Nigeria at the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic,running on the All People's Party (APP) platform. He took office on 29 May 1999. He was re-elected on the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) platform in 2003 to a second term of four years.
Masʽud Doguwa El-Jibril was elected Senator for the Kano South constituency of Kano State,Nigeria at the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic,running on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform. He took office on 29 May 1999. After taking his seat in the Senate in June 1999 he was appointed to committees on Industries,Foreign Affairs,Works &Housing,Agriculture (Chairman) and Information.
Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje,popularly known as Jimi Agbaje;,is a Nigerian pharmacist,and politician. He was the 2015 PDP's Lagos State Governorship candidate,but he lost out to the eventual winner Akinwunmi Ambode. He was the 2019 Lagos State gubernatorial election candidate for PDP in the 2019 general elections.
An election for Governor of Lagos State took place on 11 April 2015. All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Akinwunmi Ambode,who is a former accountant general of Lagos State,defeated People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Jimi Agbaje and Alliance for Democracy (AD) candidate Bolaji Ogunseye. The governor and deputy governor are elected on the same ticket.
The 2007 Lagos State gubernatorial election occurred on 14 April 2007. Babatunde Raji Fashola of the AC defeated other candidates,by polling 599,300 votes,PDP's Musiliu Olatunde Obanikoro was closest contender with 383,956 votes.
The 2003 Ekiti State gubernatorial election occurred on April 19,2003. PDP's Ayo Fayose won election for a first tenure,defeating Incumbent Governor,AD's Niyi Adebayo and three other candidates.
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro a very tall handsome and good looking gentleman, is indeed a noble and distinguish man, whom nature has perfected well but being denied of his dream by some unscrupulous political elements.