Two major opposition political parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party, ANPP on Sunday cried foul over the arrest of former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, saying the act was aimed at intimidating the opposition.
They both described his arrest in Kaduna State over alleged inciting comments on a live radio programme run by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Kaduna as unacceptable.
Even though the senator was released barely hours after, the ACN National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the arrest might signal an impending clampdown on the opposition by what it described as “an increasingly jittery Federal Government.”
The party said Yerima’s arrest by the police, for saying in a radio interview that there would be a mass protest if the Independent National Electoral Commission refused to register the newly formed All Progressive Congress after it would have met all legal requirements, was nothing short of “budding fascism.”
It pointed out that Yerima did not say anything extra-ordinary by threatening a protest, since protests remained an integral part of a liberal democracy and could not be banned by anyone.
The party also accused the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party of working together with some unknown persons to register what it termed, “a phantom African Progressives Congress” in order to deny the APC registration with INEC.
The statement said, “We will like to say, in support of Senator Yerima, that if INEC refuses to register the All Progressives Congress, when all the legal requirements have been met, the protest in Tahrir Square in Egypt will be a child’s play compared to what we will do at the Eagle Square.
“We say this because we are aware that the Peoples Democratic Party, which is mortally afraid of the rise and rise of the APC, is behind the phantom African Peoples Congress which has applied to INEC for registration, in an effort to instigate an acronym crisis and give INEC a reason, if it needs any, not to register the All Progressives Congress.
‘’But we will like to warn that if indeed INEC has not merged with the PDP, as one of our leaders, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) has brilliantly said, then we do hope that the electoral body, which by the way is not unaware of the All Progressives Congress as the authentic APC, will not succumb to the evil machinations of the apprehensive PDP.’’
The party said it expected more arrests, investigations by the anti-corruption agencies and other acts aimed at intimidating its leaders in the weeks and months ahead, but warned the Federal Government to make sure it had enough prison space to accommodate those it plans to arrest.
“After all, it is generally believed that the recent redeployment of Police commissioners in the states was done in readiness for the pre-2015 clampdown on the opposition. We know the arrest of Senator Yerima is just a tip of the iceberg, as the PDP-controlled FG gets ready to bare its fangs. But we must warn that fascism can never prevail over liberal democracy,” it said.
The ANPP, on the other hand, released a statement released by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Emma Enekwu, in which it said that Yerima’s arrest was “evidence things to come from the ruling PDP as they are patently jumpy over the coalition of progressives in readiness for the 2015 elections.”
It said that the senator was merely exercising his right to free speech as it is guaranteed in a democracy without breaching public peace by any means.
“Moreover, peaceful demonstration is also legal. If Senator Yerima expresses doubts about the sincerity of the ruling party in supporting democratic best practices and calls for a future peaceful demonstration, it is only a government which has malicious agenda that would take offence at such opinion,” the statement added.
The party reminded all democracy lovers in Nigeria that dictatorship would not happen overnight but that it would start in trickles “until it culminates in a breaking point when the silent rivulets of evil break the dam of reason, and everything comes tumbling down.”
It added that history had shown that the German dictator, Adolf Hitler, began his career of turning his nation upside down by muzzling the opposition at the slightest excuse, and installing Nazi supporters to control the critical aspects of the national life.
Efforts made to speak with the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, were not successful as calls made to his mobile telephone indicated that it was switched off.
He also did not respond to a message sent to the same mobile telephone in which our correspondent asked for his reaction.
Also, the South-East zone of the yet-to-be-registered opposition alliance party, APC, on Sunday, condemned the arrest of the ex-governor, saying the action was unbecoming of the Nigeria Police Force.
It said in a statement by the Publicity Secretary of the interim management of the APC in the zone that, “The APC South-East wishes to caution that as we approach the 2015 general elections, intimidation and undue arrest should be consigned to the dark ages of the yore. And most importantly, that the relative frontiers of freedom which democracy bestowed on the nation shall not be abridged by any group or persons for self -preservation.”