Relief for Senator Musiliu Obanikoro as His Son Regains Ticket

HighLife

Politics in Nigeria has more to do with influence than anything else. This has always been the case whether the political ground is the grassroots or among the elite class. So young politicians better take a leaf out of the book of the son of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Ibrahim, and thicken the stem of their influence so that they can go further than popularity would allow them.

Some time ago, the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives primaries were held in Lagos. For Eti-Osa Federal Constituency, Lagos, Ibrahim was in the political ring against some aspiring Honourables to retain his position as the House of Representatives member for the constituency. However, Ibrahim lost to Oye Elegushi, the brother of Oba Saheed Elegushi of Ikate Kingdom. Elegushi got 25 votes and Ibrahim got 23, losing the ticket to Elegushi by 2 votes.

On this account, it was believed that Ibrahim would have to sit on the benches as Elegushi contested against candidates of other political parties to represent the Eti-Osa people. But no. According to the latest reports, Ibrahim is back in the game. Why? Because the leadership of APC in Lagos State saw it fit to have Ibrahim represent the party to win the constituency at the House of Representatives.

There have been many debates as to why the APC leadership decided to take such a course of action. The loudest of these arguments is that the leadership wants to console Ibrahim’s father, the former Minister of State for Defence. After all, Obanikoro also lost his political ambition after contesting the Lagos West Senatorial ticket. So, at least one Obanikoro gets to win the ticket, even if it is only the House of Representatives instead of both the House and senatorial tickets. This is the core of the aforementioned argument.

Whether the argument has merits is a matter for another day. What is certain at the moment is that the Obanikoro family will not be as disheartened now as they were when father and son lost their political footing.