Ekiti Polls: defence minister denies plans to rig election

Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has denied allegations of plans to orchestrate the rigging of Saturday’s gubernatorial elections in Ekiti State in favor of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun had in a petition to President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday, claimed that Obanikoro […]

Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has denied allegations of plans to orchestrate the rigging of Saturday’s gubernatorial elections in Ekiti State in favor of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun had in a petition to President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday, claimed that Obanikoro had perfected plans to rig the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti State, using fake election materials.

Oyegun said, “On Tuesday, June 17, 2014, two loaded aircraft landed at the Akure Airport with undisclosed content. The presence of the Minister of State, Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro who was on ground to ensure the safe delivery of the cargoes suggests official collusion and knowledge.”

“The contents were immediately loaded into a bullion van under the watchful eyes of the Minister of State, Defence, Obanikoro,” the APC Chairman added.

Reacting to the allegations, Obanikoro said “Am the Minister of State for Defence, am not in charge of electoral matters for goodness sake, see sometimes we take our politics too far, for anybody to make such a reckless allegation against my person, I think it is politics carried too far, you can see that I am here today performing my official responsibility.”

He spoke when he flagged off the launching of 11 ‘Barracks Health Committee’ on HIV prevention and intervention in barracks, initiated by the Nigerian Ministry of Defence and the United States Department of Defence.

Obanikoro told journalist on the side lines of the event that, “If I have things to do anywhere outside Abuja, I don’t need the permission of APC to move around the country, am a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria  and my focus is how to deliver on the President’s agenda and not to play politics with everything.”

He argued that, “You see leaders who are short sighted, they play politics with everything, leaders like us, we are not in this for personal reasons, we are in it because we believe we can serve the people and our focus is more on the future than on today.”

Asked if he was in Akure, Obanikoro replied that, “I have just told you am the minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I go everywhere, on Monday I will be in Kaduna, so if there is an election in Kaduna, APC will tell me not go and do my responsibility, I don’t owe them any explanation for my presence in any part of the country.”

He also commended the effort of the Defence Ministry’s collaboration with the United State Department of Defence in rolling back the prevalence of HIV in military barracks across the country, noting that over the last decade the sustained effort has resulted in the reduced prevalence of the disease among armed forces personnel to about 2.1 while the national average is 3.1.