Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demands the immediate and unconditional
release of its chieftain, Dr. Doyin Okupe, by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The PDP describes Dr. Okupe’s arrest and detention as an act of
intimidation and harassment by the Muhammadu Buhari-led presidency in
its bid to browbeat the opposition and dissenting voices in our country
ahead of the 2019 general election.
This arrest is part of the grand plot to escalate the clampdown on
opposition leaders, in the attempt to cow and subjugate them as the
elections draw nearer, a scheme the PDP had since alerted the nation
about.
The PDP invites Nigerians to note that the EFCC was unleashed on Dr.
Okupe with fabricated charges, just because of his criticisms of the
misrule of the Buhari administration, particularly, his last Wednesday’s
demand to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to
declare President Buhari as not validly nominated as a Presidential
candidate for the 2019 elections.
Since this comment, Dr. Okupe has been threatened, harassed and his home
raided by officials of the EFCC last Saturday over claims of cyber
stalking, which they could not substantiate, only for the commission to
arrest and detain him on Monday.
It is indeed unfortunate that the EFCC, under President Buhari, has been
turned to a militant wing of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to
hound, intimidate, harass and even extort money from opposition leaders
and other Nigerians perceived to be opposed to Mr. President’s ill-fated
re-election bid.
If the EFCC has not been compromised by the Buhari President, why has it
not invited or even questioned officials of the Presidency indicted for
corruption or the factional National Chairman of the APC, Adams
Oshiomhole, over alleged extortion of billions of naira from his party
members, for which he even had to flee the country?
Why has the EFCC not invited the former Secretary to the Government of
the Federation, Babachir Lawal and President Buhari’s close relatives,
who were recently mentioned by a suspect, Amina Mohammed, as being
involved in serial looting of public resources?
Moreover, instead of using their so-called technology and intelligence
to harass and extort money from innocent, harmless and law-abiding
citizens, we challenge our now well-trained EFCC officials to join our
security agencies and deploy their technology in the fight against
terrorism in the North East.
Finally, the PDP, for the umpteenth time cautions the Buhari Presidency
over its resort to wicked politics of chasing after opposition leaders
and their family members as such will not save President Buhari from the
resolve by majority of Nigerians to vote him out of office and elect
Atiku Abubakar, come 2019
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
