Obanikoro denies using soldiers to terrorize opponents, Lagosians
The Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has denied using soldiers to terrorize political opponents and residents of Lagos State, saying the coordinated and relentless media attacks on his person and office from a section of the media is uncharitable.
He said it is regrettable that at a time of national emergencies, when total attention is required to surmount daunting security challenges, some unpatriotic cliques within the media and opposition politicians have collectively chosen to demonize and distract him with spurious reports of phantom incidents.
“The unfounded but imaginatively contrived reports of the use of military personnel to intimidate political opponents, remains as described, an unfounded but deviously conceived attack on a person perceived by his political detractors to be the most formidable threat in the lead up to a round of elections. For the avoidance of doubt, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro is probably one of the most charismatic and approachable political figures in the South West.
“But for his present office, he has no need for a security detail. It has to be noted that the Honourable Minister is not responsible for deploying military personnel either in his detail or in operational circumstances. More importantly he has no mandate to give soldiers or any military personnel orders. The Nigerian military is too professional to become tools in a game of political brinkmanship,” Obanikoro said in a statement signed by his Personal Assistant, Ikenna Ezekwe.
He said the reference to his unscheduled visit to the Ilubirin site as an act of a meddlesome interloper proves the point that he is a committed stakeholder and that there is no truth in assertion that work on the site was disrupted by the military detail that accompanied him.
He said: “It must be emphasized that the very serious environmental, statutory, legal, and ethical issues raised by the Honourable Minister have still not been addressed by the relevant parties. The Honourable Minster wishes to assure all well-meaning and discerning Nigerians, and especially Lagosians, that he will never betray the trust that has been reposed in him by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and is mindful of his antecedents as a proud, passionate, and patriotic Lagosians”.