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.
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