The handcuffing of the National Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, has been described by PDP governors as an act by the All Progressives Congress meant to deride not only Metuh but also the PDP as well as cast the party in bad light before Nigerians as a party of corrupt individuals.
The governors further said that by that act, the APC regime was just a step away from full blown fascism.
In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja and signed by Earl Osaro Onaiwu, coordinator of the forum, the governors said: “The APC regime was yet to learn from history, therefore, its banal exhibitionism and Telemundo antics of subjecting accused persons like Metuh to inhuman treatment.
“The only reasonable conclusion we have reached is that the anti-corruption agencies and other institutions of state have allowed themselves to be dictated to by a single vindictive authority which takes pleasure in using power anyhow and in anyway in gross abuse of the constitution, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and human liberty.
“The handcuffing of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP exemplifies a terrible decay of power by the APC regime which sees itself bigger than the democratic state, Nigeria, which brought it to power.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the forum is not against the anti-corruption mantra of the present regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, but, we insist it must be within the ambit of our constitution and appropriate laws.
“Any other means is a descent into fascism with its attendant consequences in the long run,” the statement read.
The PDP Governors Forum further noted that Section 34 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, frowns on all forms of degradation particularly inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment, of which Metuh was subjected to.
The governors called on security and anti-graft agencies to be mindful of how they take instructions from political office holders as the tide of power is constantly moving, as the APC will not be in power forever.
They also urged civil society to resist such ultra-constitutional actions before Nigeria becomes the private estate of the APC.