Femi Fani-Kayode, former Aviation Minister has described the “persuction” of deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFFC, as another “manifestation of Buhari’s obsessive paranoia and morbid fear.”
Mr. Fani-Kayode, accused President Muhammadu Buhari of using the anti-graf graft agency the Deputy Senate President. for political reasons.
The former spokesman of Goodluck Jonathan 2015 Campaign Organization said this in a tweet as he reacted to Ekweremadu’s interrogation by EFCC operatives on Tuesday.
He tweeted, Fani-Kayode, “Using EFCC to lock up my friend and brother Dep. Senate President Ike Ekweremadu changes nothing.
“It is yet another manifestation of Buhari’s obsessive paranoia and morbid fear. Ekweremadu, who is innocent of any wrongdoing, will be vindicated and Buhari will soon be out of power.”
Ekweremadu, who reported himself at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja earlier on Tuesday for questioning, was held for hours as he was interrogated by EFCC operatives on allegations bordering on corruption.
The Deputy Senate President was said to be under investigation for allegedly owning about 22 properties some of which he failed to declare in his Asset Declaration Form at the Code of Conduct Bureau.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party has condemned the alleged harassment of Ekweremadu, opposition leaders, and voices of dissent by the Federal Government.
Reacting to what it described as Senator Ekweremadu’s witch-hunt by the EFCC on Tuesday, the party called on the international community to rein in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration before it became too late.
The PDP accused the government of misusing the anti-graft and security agencies close to the 2019 general elections, adding that such posed a grave threat to the nation’s democracy.
The party said these in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbodiyan, in Abuja on Tuesday.
The statement said, “Just a few days after the EFCC and over 200 policemen practically held Senator Ekweremadu hostage to prevent the defection of the All Progressives Congress senators to the PDP, the EFCC has continued to harass Senator Ike 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.
“While the likes of Babachir Lawal, Abba Kyari, Ayo Oke, Kemi Adeosun, Abdulrasheed Maina and his accomplices, Okoi Obono-Obla, and scores of others in the ruling APC, with corruption and fraud-related charges, walk free, the anti-graft agencies have continued in its reckless desperation to harass and dent leaders of the opposition in the name of an anti-corruption war that Nigerians and the world have come to see for what it is- persecution of the opposition.
“We warn the Buhari-led administration to desist from this act of highhandedness and witch-hunt of the opposition so as not to torpedo our democracy.
“The panicky APC government cannot be allowed to destroy opposition leaders just a few months to the general elections in the name of fighting corruption.”
Majority of Nigerians now share the opinion of the PDP.
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