Obanikoro’s Defection To Apc Makes Me Sad – Fani-kayode

SAN FRANCISCO, May 08, (THEWILL) – A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has expressed sadness over the defection of a former minister of state for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, lamenting that the former governorship hopeful in Lagos is pitching tent with his persecutors.

Last October, Obanikoro and Fani-Kayode spent about a month together in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. While the former was held for allegedly receiving N4.7bn from the Office of the National Security Adviser, the later was prosecuted for allegedly receiving over N800m when he was the spokesman for the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation.

THEWILL had reported Obanikoro as making overtures to join the ruling party, and that his quest had already received a positive nod from the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Reacting in a message on his Facebook page, Fani-Kayode said, “My brother, Musiliu Obanikoro's decision to join the APC irks and saddens me. I say this because I have always loved him and I care. You cannot fight evil by joining it. You cannot bring light by entering the darkness. You cannot find joy by partaking in the bread of sorrows.

“You cannot run away in the heat of battle. You must have the courage of your convictions. Where is your honour? Where is your strength? Where is your dignity? Where is your self-respect? Where is your sense of self-worth?

“You and I are royalty. We are princes and kings and children of the living God. We were taught and brought up to fight to the end and never to bow to the enemy.

“We were taught never to flinch before oppression. We were taught never to give in to our worst fears and to those who hate us and who despise our people. We were taught never to crawl on the floor and be slaves to our fellow men.”

He expressed readiness to die for his principles, and therefore advised Obanikoro to exhibit the same courage, insisting that he would continue to oppose the Federal Government as this was the right thing to do.

The ex-minister said, “Always remember that rebellion against a tyrant is an act of obedience to God. They may have today but tomorrowbelongs to us. Finally, take note of this: if you are not ready to die for something, then you are not worthy of living for anything.

“I would rather die a free man than live a slave. And as long as I live, the Yoruba, nay the South, shall offer some form of resistance to our collective oppressors and as surely as God lives, we shall never be slaves.”