PDP Demands Immediate Release of Doyin Okupe …Accuses EFCC, presidency of witch-hunt

 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of its chieftain, Dr. Doyin Okupe, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by the party’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP described 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 the country ahead of the 2019 general election.

“This arrest is part of the grand plot to escalate the clampdown on opposition leaders in an attempt to cow and subjugate them as the elections draw nearer, a scheme the PDP had since alerted Nigerians about.

“The PDP invites Nigerians to note that the EFCC was unleashed on 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,” the party alleged.

The opposition party added that since his comment, Okupe had been threatened, harassed and his home raided by officials of the EFCC last Saturday over claims of cyber stalking, which they could not substantiate, and only for the commission to arrest and detained him last Monday.

According to the party, “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 the president’s ill-fated re-election bid.

“If the EFCC has not been compromised by the Buhari Presidency, 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?”

PDP further asked: “Why has the EFCC not invited the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), 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?”

The party said instead of using their so-called technology and intelligence to “harass and extort money from innocent, harmless and law-abiding citizens,” EFCC officials should join the security agencies and deploy their technology in the fight against terrorism in the Northeast.

It cautioned the Buhari presidency on 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 in 2019.