The immediate past Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has said he will work with the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress.
Obanikoro had been engaged in a war of
words with Agbaje and a leader of the PDP in the state, Chief Bode
George, over the party’s controversial governorship primary.
Obanikoro had also sued the party for
not attending to a petition he wrote over the party’s conduct of the
primary which he described as a sham.
However, the Director-General, Koro
Campaign Organisation, Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, told our correspondent on
the telephone that President Goodluck Jonathan had intervened in the
feud.
He said part of the terms of the
agreement reached with the President was that Obanikoro would be given a
senior ministerial slot and not minister of state which is a junior
ministerial position.
He said, “We have listened to the
President’s appeal and have decided to settle out of court. Obanikoro
will return as a minister but part of the terms is that he will be given
a full ministerial position. We were told that he would head a ministry
but we were not told what ministry in particular.
“He will help the President to campaign
in Lagos and we will also work with Agbaje. We are willing to work with
Chief Bode George and we will reconcile with the party.”
The development comes less than 24 hours
after the PDP South-West chairman, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, called on
the PDP leadership to ensure that aggrieved aspirants in the state were
appeased because Lagos could determine who wins the presidential
elections.
He had said, “When Ayodele Fayose
emerged as the candidate of the PDP in Ekiti, we went to beg all other
aspirants in their houses to ensure that we got victory in all the 16
local governments in Ekiti. You cannot win it all alone.”
Reacting to the development, a former
Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, said the PDP was one big
family and that he would work with Obanikoro.
“We are party elders. If Obanikoro apologises, we will accept his apology. Our priority is winning Lagos,” he said.
With a voting population of over six
million, it is believed that the person who emerges as the winner of the
presidential election next year would be largely determined by the
outcome of the election in Lagos State.
Party sources told our correspondent that the need to win most of Lagos votes was what prompted the reconciliatory meeting.
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