The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that there is a plot by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to persecute and gag the opposition ahead of the 2019 elections.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Dayo Adeyeye in a statement yesterday said the All Progressives Congress (APC) led administration was persecuting the opposition for no justifiable reasons.
“The latest needless onslaught against our party members is the plan to incarcerate 50 members of our party before the end of the year with a view to using their arrest to deceive Nigerians that the failed anti-corruption war is still on course.
“The dirty job, we are aware, has been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Already, five members of our party have been arrested and detained without any charges preferred against them,” the statement said.
Although the PDP said it could not immediately reveal the identities of about 45 of its members marked down for arrest in the days ahead, the party said it was not scared of the persecution by the Buhari administration.
“We are sure that the daylight is about to break after the dark night of the APC administration. We wish to state clearly that what is going on under the Buhari administration is not a fight against corruption but an attempt at using members of the PDP as scapegoats and cover up for the ineffectual anti-corruption agenda of the current government.
Also yesterday, an aspirant to the position national chairman of the PDP, Gbenga Daniel, blamed the leadership crisis in the Ogun State chapter on Ali Modu Sheriff’s loyalists.
Daniel, who was governor of Ogun State from 2003 to 2011, spoke with journalists shortly after he collected his nomination forms at the Abuja secretariat of the PDP.