The Nigerian Senate stepped down the ministerial confirmation
hearing for Senator Musiliu Obanikoro today.
The
Senate did not give any reason the hearing was suspended or whether it
was connected with the several petitions against his nomination.
Obanikoro
and his family were sighted at the Senate gallery today, but left after
it appeared the hearing has been suspended, tweeted Senator Babafemi
Ojudu today.
The embattled former minister of state for defence,
had resigned his appointment last year October to contest the
governorship seat in Lagos, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic
Party.
He lost to Jimi Agbaje and after initially decrying his
loss as a fraud and instituting a legal challenge, he dramatically
withdrew his suit in a Federal High Court, in Abuja.
He was subsequently nominated as a minister, by President Goodluck Jonathan.
But
the nomination is facing a barrage of criticisms aa Obanikoro is mired
in the scandal of working in cahoot with the military to rig the 21 June
election in Ekiti state, last year, in favour of Governor Ayodele
Fayose.
An audio, documenting the rigging plan, with Brigadier
Aliyu Momoh of the Nigerian army has gone viral, further fuelling public
resentment against deploying the military for poll duties.
President Goodluck Jonathan has had to reverse his position on the scandal.
He
initially dismissed the audio as a fabrication in an interview with The
Wall Street Journal. As public anger swelled, he said again in an
interview with ThisDay, that investigation of the audio tape by the DSS,
has been stalled because the man who recorded it, Captain Sagir Koli,
has run out of the country.
Jonathan did not acknowledge that Koli
ran away after he sensed danger to his life, by superiors who ordered
his arrest. His 15 year old brother was arrested and tortured, after he
escaped.
The Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has joined the chorus of demands for a probe into the scandal.
In
a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Soyinka asked the Independent National
Electoral Commission to work with the international community to conduct
the investigation and make the findings of the exercise known to save
Nigeria’s democracy.
He said brushing the issue aside as just electoral malpractice approaches criminal subversion and treason.
Mr. Fayose defeated the All Progressives Congress candidate and then governor, Kayode Fayemi, in the election.
The
leaked tape captured the voices of Obanikoro, Mr. Fayose, former
senator Iyiola Omisore; the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan;
his predecessor, Caleb Olubolade; and army brigadier-general , Aliyu
Momoh.
Source:PM News
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