Says PDP Leaders Misled Him •We’re Lucky He Didn’t Win, Says PDP

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Lagos Governorship candidate last April, Musiliu Obanikoro, says he has directed his lawyer to withdraw his appeal against the tribunal verdict which upheld the election of Governor Babatunde Fashola.

"Fashola is my brother. I have no reason, to begin with, to take him to court. It was the decision of the party that we should take him to court. Look at him saying he didn’t even know that we are in court, when the decision to go to court was taken by the party," Obanikoro, an Ambassador-designate, disclosed in Lagos on Wednesday.

He said he is not supposed to sue Fashola because of their relationship.

"It was former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in the presence of Bode George (PDP Vice Chairman, South), and National Chairman (Ahmadu Ali), who gave the instruction that the election must be contested. Bode George issued a cheque advance of N20 million for the case.

"They have now forgotten that they issued a bounced cheque of N20 million for the same matter. That is the person telling you he doesn’t know about it."

Obanikoro’s disclosure coincided with the statement of Lagos PDP Chairman, Adebayo Williams, that it was good the man did not become Governor. He advised him to return to the Action Congress (AC), Fashola’s party.

Said Williams: "If he cannot follow the dictates of the party, then, somehow, I think we are lucky he didn’t become the Governor of Lagos State. What would have happened?"

However, Obanikoro denied that he withdrew the petition to spite George and other national leaders of the PDP.

"Personally," he argued, "I ought to have gone to court against Fashola. People don’t know the kind of relationship that exists between myself and Fashola. When I was a Commissioner, we were very close and we are all from the same local government.

"He is the number one citizen of the state today, but he is my aburo (brother). I have a relationship with him, which they don’t have. So, personally, it is not a decision I should have taken."

He berated George, Williams, and the others as incapable of managing the Lagos PDP.

But he declined to comment whether they had supported his Governorship campaign.

"Don’t let us talk about that now. At the appropriate time I will invite you. I am still going to address this issue of election. It is not done yet. At the appropriate time, I will still have extensive talk. It may be in the next four or five years, I think the last is not heard about the election."



http://independentngonline.com/?c=119

See how confused the PDP is?