Senate defends confirmation of Musiliu Obanikoro as Minister

The Senate has defended its action of confirming Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro as Minister today despite protest by APC Senators over alleged election rigging. Speaking with the press after Obanikoro's confirmation, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Enyinnaya Abaribe said all the reasons for not wanting to get him confirmed by APC Senators were still allegations and until it is proven otherwise by a competent law court, Obanikoro stands innocent..

"There are allegations against Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, but in our law and the constitution of Nigeria, anything that is a mere allegation that is not a court decision is nothing but a mere allegation. The laws of Nigeria is very clear; you are innocent until proven guilty, so that is what played out on the floor of the Senate. The Senators who addressed the press conference and spoke otherwise of Senator Obanikoro are enjoying a privilege. This is because some of them have EFCC cases, and they are still in the senate because of this privilege of being innocent until proven guilty. So they cannot go to a press conference, and try to convict somebody when the person has not been convicted by a court of law. The Senate is not a court of law and even when the Senate conducts its own investigation, it passes it to the appropriate body for prosecution" he said.