Former Minister of State for Defence and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Musiliu Obanikoro will formally join the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC) on Saturday, November 25.
According to reports, the former Ambassador to Ghana will move his supporters and political machinery to the APC.Details of the time and venue will be communicated.
It will be recalled that the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, Chief Henry Ajomale had said that the party was stepping up arrangements to welcome Obanikoro into its fold in a matter of weeks.
The party chairman said Obanikoro and others had reached out to the party to resolve their issues with it and all was set for their formal defection. He said Wednesday’s defection of PDP bigwig, Prince Lukman Ajose, would open a floodgate of defections from the PDP to the APC in the coming days.
“We welcome Prince Ajose to the APC. His defection is a plus for us. “But Ajose is not the only one joining us. Some of the bigwigs in the PDP, including Obanikoro, will be joining us soon.
“I don’t want to give you a particular date but all I can tell you is all is set,” he said.
Meanwhile, Koro, as he is popularly called, had denied in the past that he was defecting to the APC.
His acceptance in the ruling APC party was judged by some party bigwigs as coming from a positive nod from the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It was however gathered that Tinubu initially showed reluctance to Obanikoro’s return to his political camp which he deserted over a decade ago to join the then ruling PDP.
But the national leader soft-pedalled on his stance after the former Minister reached out to some prominent Lagosians to intercede on his behalf before Tinubu. “And when he met Asiwaju, he apologized profusely for his past misdeeds and political miscalculations.
You know Asiwaju has a large heart. It appears he forgave him and gave a positive nod to his quest to join the APC. Following that, Obanikoro met and discussed with several other party leaders, one of the bigwigs had said.