By Debo Popoola
In a swift response to Sahara Reporters’ claim that former minister of state for defense, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has gone into hiding in the United States to escape being fingered in the many corruption scandals that have become the fad in the political arena of Nigeria, the embattled ex minister took to his facebook page to deny the allegation of him taking to his heels; instead, he claimed that he has only gone to the United States to pursue a degree in History at the Oglethorpe University in Georgia; and this is where he shot himself in the foot.
This claim by Obanikoro raises a lot of questions about him being a public servant and about the state of our public higher institutes of learning. How come that Musiliu Obanikoro did not deem it fit for him to further his education in one of the higher citadels of learning in the country? Is it that Musiliu Obanikoro does not have confidence in our education sector? Or he cannot withstand receiving lectures in our over-crowded lecture theatres where students sit on bear floor to receive lectures? Maybe our honorable senator Obanikoro is aware that certificates earned from our public institutions worth nothing in the global market.
There is no wrong in someone going abroad in pursuit of further education. And the reason why many travel abroad to get educated is because the educational institutions at home are nothing to write home about.
One can easily forgive a nonpartisan person who has never held a political post in this nation if he or she decides to go abroad to be educated, but for someone like Musiliu Obanikoro who claimed in his facebook post that he has been a public servant since 1992, could still find pride in leaving the shores of this nation to pursue a degree in History in a foreign land, it is indeed a shame on him and many of his contemporaries who had been at the helms of affairs in this nation but left it in comatose.
Gone are the days when certificates earned in our higher institutions attracted global respects. Today, these certificates amount to nothing. Even within the continent, none of our numerous higher institutions made the top thirties.
Recently, a picture went viral of one of the halls of residence of the Obafemi Awolowo University. The picture depicts the worst level of living condition for any human community. And paradoxically, OAU is regarded as the most beautiful campus in Nigeria.
Most of our higher institutions have been left to decay due to the corruption that has ravaged our country. Every year, the government’s budget always earmark huge amount of money to the education sector, but at the end of each year, these institutions remain what they have always been as the money earmarked for their upgrade have been embezzled.
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro belongs to the set of politicians most Nigerians will find it had to forgive because they had the opportunities to make things right for this nation but decided to leave it to destruction for their personal gains, having served as a senator and a minister since the return to democratic government in 1999.
Obanikoro’s glaring involvement in the rigging of Ekiti state’s gubernatorial election is enough a tarnish to his image as a public servant since 1992. In an audio recording that went viral,
Obanikoro was clearly heard telling some military officers to act according to a plan and ensure victory for the PDP. The recent revelation by SaharaReporters revealed that Obanikoro received a huge amount of money towards the execution of rigging the Ekiti election. Sooner or later, he will be invited by the anti-graft agencies for investigation.
