A former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has flown in to Nigeria from the United States, where he has been living since the 2015 when his party the Peoples Democratic Party lost the genral elections.
He has been away for over a year, and had refused to come back to Nigeria until a formal invitation was sent to him.
The former minister, who was also a former governorship candidate of the PDP, reportedly returned following the receipt of a formal invitation, Obanikoro’s lawyers promised the Commission he would honour it, more so as that he has nothing to hide.
More importantly was an email sent to him by the US Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton’s campaign group, following the boasting by the Republican Candidate, Donald Trump that he would jail her if he became president.
In the letter to Obanikoro, a supporter of the Democratic party, Clinton, wrote: “Muhammed, last night, Donald Trump said that if he were elected president, he’d target Hillary and said she would be in jail if he were in charge.
“Threatening to jail political opponents isn’t what we do in America, Muhammed. Those are the words of totalitarianism.”
Moved by the words of Clinton and her team, the former Senator and one-time Minister of State for Foreign Affairs decided to return to the country to clear the mess once and for all.
Obanikoro would be led to the Commission by his two lawyers, Mr. Lawal Pedro and Mr. James Onoja, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN).
Mr. Obanikoro has been having a running battle with the anti-graft agency on allegations bordering on financial crimes.
The EFCC accused him of using his children to take out government contracts that were never executed.
Mr. Obanikoro, on a separate charge, was also implicated in the Ekiti elections scandal. It is not immediately clear if he was prepared to answer questions about that, too.
He had initially vowed not to return to the country alleging persecution by the government as a means to discredit him.
