The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday pitched against the presidency over the arrest of Senate Minority Leader and former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Godswill Akpabio.
Akpabio’s travail with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, followed series of petition by a lawyer from the state, alleging that the senator engaged in acts of corruption while in office as governor.
Akpabio, a top member of the PDP, faced interrogators from the EFCC twice between Friday and Saturday.
The PDP alleged that the presidency is engaging in a witch-hunt of PDP members and perceived political opponents of APC government.
But the presidency simply said the PDP had run out of ideas.
PDP spokesman, Olisa Metuh, described Akpabio’s investigation as politically motivated and calculated to weaken the PDP ahead of the 2019 elections, further accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of being dictatorial and deliberately harassing and hounding PDP members.
Whereas the PDP has over time restated its support for a credible, holistic fight against corruption, “unfolding events have confirmed our position that this administration is only using the anti-corruption posture as a tool to witch-hunt PDP members and perceived political opponents of APC government,” Metuh said.
“We are aware that having realised that Nigerians have seen through their propaganda, deceit and lies, as well as their ineptitude in handling governance, the APC government is now mortally afraid of the on-going rebuilding in the PDP to take over power in 2019, and is as such, applying every negative means to decimate our great party, including the relentless victimisation of our key members.
“It is clearly manifest that the same dictatorial tendencies manifested during the military regime of 1984 are being presently applied in the polity in the attempt to discredit PDP members and weaken our great party ahead of 2019.
“The APC and its government have been busy denigrating the PDP and trying to appropriate our achievements, while at the same time blackmailing, hounding and harassing our elected members with the aim to cow and force them to leave the PDP and join their party.
“We have verifiable reports from our key members that agents of the APC have been approaching them to join the APC with threats to use the EFCC to victimise them should they refuse.”
Metuh further said APC and its agents have been boasting that they have the powers to deal with or spare any person, depending on the party such person belongs to.
“This clearly explains why the so-called fight against corruption has been selective and focused against PDP members, despite counsels by stakeholders that it should be holistic and in accordance with the due process of the law,” he said.
“The best example of the curious nature of the war against corruption is the fact that former PDP governors and ministers are being hounded and arrested over apparently orchestrated petitions, while their APC counterparts, who have more damaging petitions, are being nominated for ministerial positions. Even other APC former governors who have on-going corruption cases in court are being rewarded with APC tickets for the forthcoming governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa.
“On the issue of Senator Godswill Akpabio, we invite Nigerians to note that in the three rich states of Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and Lagos states, there were petitions against their former governors. Whereas the former APC governors of Lagos and Rivers were rewarded with ministerial nominations, their Akwa Ibom PDP counterpart and the current senate minority leader is being hounded by the EFCC.
“This is in spite of the common knowledge that Akwa Ibom under the Senator Akpabio is arguably the least indebted state in Nigeria, and where the governor appropriately applied available resources to effectively transform the state.”
He challenged the APC to show Nigerians any of their governor that matched the feats achieved in Akwa Ibom under Senator Akpabio, whose only building in Uyo is uncompleted and being built with verifiable bank loans.
“The PDP therefore state categorically that the orchestrated investigation of Senator Akpabio is politically motivated and targeted at weakening the PDP for 2019 elections, by virtue of his being the face of opposition in the national assembly,” Metuh added.
“It is also part of the fight by the presidency to weaken the legislature as an arm of government and prevent it from effectively carrying out its constitutional role of checks and balances in a democracy.
“As we speak, no APC member, despite the public petitions of corruption and squandering of state funds, has been invited or questioned by the EFCC. We challenge the EFCC, as an anti-corruption agency, to show Nigerians any member of the APC it has so far questioned, not to talk of being arrested since the emergence of this administration, despite petitions against them.
“This government has established itself as a hypocritical regime that accommodates corruption, profligacy and sleazes in government quarters while hoodwinking the people and witch-hunting PDP members.
“The hypocrisy of this administration came to the fore with the show of insensitivity to the mood of the nation as copiously demonstrated in Saturday’s ostentatious thanksgiving party (with hundreds of millions of naira spent) by the secretary to the government of the federation, (SFG) Engr Babachir David Lawal, at a time the people of the northeast geo-political zone, where he hails from, are being ravaged by insurgency.”
Metuh urged the President “to end this dictatorial proclivity of selective anti-corruption war that has characterised the APC government.”
While reacting, the presidency said the PDP was yet to wake up from its defeat in the 2015 general elections adding that the opposition party needs to be pitied as it no longer has ideas to keep running.
Femi Adesina, who reacted for the presidency, said the opposition seems to have run out of ideas so soon and had now resorted to releasing jaded, hackneyed allegations.
