George confirmed this in a recent interview with this emphasis: “Since the President left after giving us the advice, I believe from my reckoning out of about seven who came out, we now have about three, maximum, who are still in the race. The elders are still working and are more of persuasion and not the emperor style of leadership.”

But ask Koro and he would not agree with George. “It is not true that the number of aspirants has been reduced. I am not aware of that. Everyone is entitled to a level playing field. All of us in the race are men of impeccable record. We have distinguished ourselves in our various fields. I am confident of victory at the primaries because I am grassroots person, with grasp of the key issues in the state. There was no condition attached to my becoming a minister. Mr. President, who appointed me a minister, did not say that it was a condition for me not to contest in 2015. Having risen through the ranks in public office, I am very confident that I have the wealth of experience to serve my people,” he said in a recent statement. In fact also, Tunji Shelle, the PDP chairman in the state, has constantly maintained that the party is poised for a free and fair primary election.

•Senator Musiliu Obanikoro

How possible can this be? Shortly after the recently conducted ward congresses in Lagos, Obanikoro accused George of undue interference in the exercise in a notice of complaint to Adamu Mu’azu, the PDP national chairman. In the complaint, Obanikoro alleged that the congress was manipulated to favour some people. To him, these people must be checked ahead of the election so they do not use their influence negatively. “PDP needs a free and fair primary that is devoid of Bode George’s undue interference as seen during the ward congresses. What I see is a greater Lagos, where the hopes of the little girl growing up in Mushin are the same as the dreams of the child in Victoria Garden City. Cynics have perfected the art of telling us that the Lagos of our dreams is not possible. We refuse to agree with them! One million cynics cannot stop the dream of a greater Lagos. While they focus on impossibilities, we focus on a greater Lagos,” he affirmed.

In reply to Obanikoro’s complaint, the Lagos Integrity Watch, a group loyal to George, said in a statement signed by Olarinde Onitolo, its coordinator, that Obanikoro was merely persecuting George. “We read with alarm and disgust the outrageous claim of Senator Musiliu Obanikoro alleging that our National Leader, Chief Olabode George, was somehow partisan in last Saturday’s wards congress that was held in Lagos State. This is outrightly unfair. It is crude, illogical, foul and a tasteless insane spouting of a desperate, disowned and forfeited man, who is prancing about in aimless search for relevance. The fact of the matter is that Obanikoro, whose name and pedigree is of contradictory and unfathomable legitimacy, is a rejected fortune seeker whose stock in trade is to manoeuvre in dirty, squalid alleys at any cost to snatch undeserved relevance,” the group fired.

Again, in an apparent effort to put Obanikoro where he wants him to belong, George, in an interview said the ambition of the governorship hopeful was not endorsed by anyone including President Jonathan. Hear George: “He said that he resigned as Minister because the President endorsed him; that is the greatest lie. Quote me: That is the greatest lie. And when you build your house on lies, it cannot stand a little storm, not now. Who asked him to be Minister? I think the President has made his statement when he came here and I queue up behind that statement. He is still very much alive. Wike too in Rivers; is it the President who asked him to resign? Did he put his name on the paper? Who signed the paper? Is it thePresident? People lie. That is a blatant lie. And you can put it down that I said that.”

As if this was not enough, some PDP members including Michael Babatunde Ogun, Suleiman Olayinka Saheed and Wasiu Adeniyi Odusan, through Wahab Shittu, their lawyer, are seeking a Federal High Court’s decision on the eligibility of Obanikoro and the determination of his true citizenship since he had voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the United States of America even though he did not renounce his allegiance to Nigeria, the country of his birth. They are also asking the court for a perpetual injunction barring the former minister from becoming the candidate of the PDP for the purpose of the governorship election in Lagos in 2015 over alleged forgery.

Part of what is being sought by the PDP members is for the court to determine “whether upon a proper construction and interpretation of Section 182(1) (a) (j) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the 1st responded (Obanikoro) having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the United States of America in addition to the citizenship of Nigeria, is eligible to present himself for nomination as a candidate in the governorship primaries of the 3rd respondent (PDP) or any other registered political party for the purpose of contesting on the platform of the PDP or any other political party registered in Nigeria for the purpose of contesting the 2015 elections in Lagos State or any subsequent elections in Nigeria”; and “whether upon a proper construction of Section 182 (1) (j) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended, the 1st respondent having previously presented a forged birth certificate to INEC in the April 2007 general elections for the office of Governor of Lagos State is eligible to present himself for nomination as a candidate in the governorship primaries of the 3rd respondent or any other registered political party for the purpose of contesting on the platform of the PDP or any other political party registered in Nigeria for the purpose of contesting the 2015 elections in Lagos State or any subsequent elections in Nigeria.”

In an affidavit sworn to by Ogun, he accused Obanikoro of deliberately dishing out falsehood when asked whether he had changed his nationality in the past, even when he knew that he had in actual fact acquired the citizenship of the United States of America as contained in his American Passport No.025317195 issued on 16 June 1995. Apart from this, he accused Obanikoro of deliberately falsifying his date of birth and age as 28 July, 1954 and 52 years respectively but that Obanikoro knew that his official Nigerian passport and his diplomatic passport Number F0004473 and D0002471 respectively show that his actual date of birth is the 28 July, 1960. “Unless Obanikoro is perpetually restrained from participating in the scheduled governorship primaries of my party, the PDP which is to take place on the8th of December 2014, the interest of the applicants as stakeholders and the overriding interest of the PDP including the quality and character of the political space would be seriously endangered,” the affidavit stated.

Various groups in support of Obanikoro, on the other hand, think he is just been persecuted for selfish reasons. “Only Obanikoro can face Tinubu and even Tinubu knows this. Obanikoro is the only person that can take the PDP to Alausa Government House next year. We saw how he performed in Ekiti and even in Osun. We are sure that he is the only one capable of fighting the opposition,” Mr. Femi Carenna, the organising secretary of the South-West PDP and friend of Obanikoro said while The Group of Concerned Lagosians, one of the groups flying Obanikoro’s kite, recently released a statement stressing: “We are solidly behind Senator Obanikoro and wish to let Bode George and his cohorts know that Obanikoro is a true son of Lagos, who has served Lagos decently all through his public service career without any criminal record, accusation or litigation. He will not be intimidated by half-baked politicians who are already afraid of meeting him at the primary.”

Just as some people in the party see Agbaje as a stranger coming to reap where he did not sow, so do older members of the party think Obanikoro cannot come from the opposition to take over the structure of the party. Even though he has remained in the party since 2003 and served in different capacity and seemingly sacrificed both time and energy for the party, his traducers are hell-bent on seeing that he does not succeed.

In the face of his alleged persecution, Obanikoro has maintained a certain calm. But it is not known how golden this calmness can be.