TheCable

Musiliu Obanikoro, former defence minister, visted Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), at his residence in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Sunday.

Obanikoro, who had been at daggers drawn with Tinubu since 2006, joined a delegation which presented the staff of Eyo, a masquerade, to Tinubu.

The staff is normally presented to an important dignitary ahead of Eyo festival, which is unique to Lagos.

Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of Lagos; Mudashiru Obasa, speaker of the Lagos state house of assembly; and Femi Pedro, former deputy governor of Lagos, were among those in Tinubu’s house at the time of the presentation.

TheCable gathered that the staff was also presented to Ambode.

Tunde Rahman, spokesman of the former Lagos governor, said there was nothing special about Obanikoro’s recent visit to his principal.

“I don’t think there is more to the visit. It’s been in the public domain that Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has reconciled with his political leader. So, if you see him around Asiwaju, you should understand within that context,” he said.

“He (Obanikoro) even said it publicly that he has retraced his steps and come back home. He said when he went astray, he thought Asiwaju would reach out to him but that now, he has retraced his steps… He joined those  who came to present the staff of Eyo to Asiwaju as a mark of respect.”

There have been reports of Obanikoro visting Tinubu ahead of his defection to the ruling party.

The former minister served as Lagos state commissioner for home affairs under Tinubu from 1999 to 2003. He was elected senator in 2003 on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) platform.

But he later clashed with the APC leader reportedly over his choice of Babatunde Fashola as successor.

Soon afterwards, “aggrieved” Obanikoro defected from the AD to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on which platform he ran for Lagos governor in 2007.