Femi Fani-Kayode has debunked claims by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that he was cheerful when the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Hassan Kukah visited him in EFCC custody.
Likewise, he said Obanikoro and Abati were neither cheerful as the EFCC claimed.
He faulted the anti-graft commission’s claim in a statement by his Special Assistant on the Media, Mr. Jude Ndukwe, noting that the EFCC was detaining him illegally, contrary to the order of a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.
In the statement, Fani-Kayode acknowledged that Kukah paid him a visit in EFCC custody, disclosing that the priest also met Obanikoro and Abati at the anti-graft commission’s net in Abuja.
When he arrived at the EFCC, however, Fani-Kayode disclosed that the cleric met them at the clinic and afterwards had some private moments with them away from the prying eyes of journalists.
He said Bishop Kukah spoke words of encouragement “to the trio wherein he encouraged them to be strong and see this as a trying period for them. He prayed for them before departing.”
But the former minster said it was very shocking “to us to read that the anti-graft commission released a press statement wherein he alluded a lot of things supposedly said by the Catholic cleric and wove disheartening lies around them.”
“Even if we decide to agree that Kukah said the clinic and detention area of the commission was ‘clean and orderly’, we reject the notion that Kukah said the trio were ‘cheerful.’
“This was obviously added to make a caricature of the seriousness of the condition of the detainees. What is there in EFCC for anyone to be cheerful about especially when someone is being illegally detained?
“It is all part of EFCC’s deliberate and wicked manipulation of the media against the trio who were met at the EFCC clinic by the bishop while undergoing some medical attention to say that they were cheerful.
“Also, that some of EFCC’s facilities were reportedly said to be ‘clean and orderly’ does not give them the liberty to illegally detain Nigerians for as long as they wish. Even if EFCC converts a five-star hotel to its facility, it can never be good enough to illegally keep citizens on account of their political leanings.”
Fani-Kayode reiterated that the EFCC “is holding him illegally on the ground that his re-arrest at the premises of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos on October 21 was done without a warrant.”
“The arrest was done after the presiding judge on the day’s matter had advised that it would be unwise to re-arrest a man who had honoured their invitations, had been on bail from both EFCC and the courts, has never been declared wanted and had appeared in court of his own accord.”
“He has been held for close to two weeks without even their usual questionable detention order which they used in holding him earlier for 67 days,” the statement explained.