Leaders of the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP have decried what they describe as the harassment of Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, opposition leaders as well as other dissenting voices in the country by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led-Federal Government.
The PDP issued the statement through its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Tuesday in Abuja while reacting to what it described as a witch-hunt against Ekweremadu by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The PDP accused the government of using the anti-graft and security agencies against perceived political enemies and all voices of opposition dangerously close to the 2019 general elections.
Mr. Ologbondiyan stressed that the path the APC led federal government was threading on was likely to result in dire consequences for Nigeria’s democracy. The PDP further called on the international community to prevail on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration before it becomes too late.
The statement reads, “Just a few days after the EFCC and over 200 policemen practically held Ekweremadu hostage to prevent the defection of the APC Senators to the PDP, the EFCC has continued to harass Ekweremadu to cover its shame. We wish to remind Nigerians and the international community that this is only the newest in the series of attempts to destroy the senator politically in the run up to the 2019 general elections.
It is of grave concern to us that while corruption and corrupt persons abound in the APC, the EFCC prefers to chase after innocent members of
the opposition.”
The PDP further observed through the statement that while scores of APC members with corruption and fraud-related charges walk free, the anti-graft agencies has continued to harass and dent the images of opposition leaders under the guise of an anti-corruption war.
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The opposition party went further to warn the APC led federal government to desist from “highhandedness and witch-hunt of the opposition” in order to preserve the democracy of Nigeria.
“The APC government cannot be allowed to tarnish and destroy opposition leaders just a few months to the general election in the name of fighting corruption,” Ologbondiyan said.
The house of the deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu had been invaded by security forces as well as men of the EFCC prior to the wave of mass defections that hit the ruling APC last week. The senate president was later detained by the EFCC after he honoured the invitation extended to him by the anti-graft agency to report to it and answer questions relating to financial crimes.
With the 2019 general elections’ drawing near, the political intrigue and drama in the country has heightened alarmingly in recent weeks. The intrigue that has trailed this election season can only be compared to the agitations that led to the end of the first republic in Nigeria in 1966.
Prior to the first coup, politicians had wrestled themselves for political power at the expense of the citizens and were thus blind to the threat of a military take – over in the country. In that era too, federal might and state establishments had been used against perceived political enemies which contributed to the breakdown of law and order in the country.
Indeed it would seem like Nigerian politicians never learn from history as the same scenario plays itself out 50 years later.