As the 2019 general election draws close, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has intensified intimidation of the oppositon as its agent, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Saturday raided the Abuja apartment of two sons of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP).
Mr. Paul Ibe, a spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar family, confirmed the search to the Press on Sunday, saying the officers who conducted the “grievous act of intimidation” were “unable to find anything implicating.”
An apartment occupied by Chiemeka Orji, son of ex-Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji, in the same buidling was also reportedly searched by the EFCC.
Sources told Premium Times that the home of Mr Abubakar’s children was the primary target, but EFCC spokesperson suggested Chiemeka might have been the target.
The raid on Aliyu and Mustapha Atiku-Abubakar’s residence in the posh Maitama neighbourhood on Saturday comes a day after the PDP alerted the Nation over alleged freezing of the bank accounts belonging to Mr Abubakar’s running mate, Peter Obi, his wife and business associates by the Buhari government, using its agencies.
Recall also that the EFCC over the weekend attempted to arrest Doyin Okupe, a PDP chieftain and one of the spokesperson of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign.
Sources told the newspaper that neither Aliyu nor Mustapha was in town when the anti-graft agents arrived but those with whom they share the building were reportedly taken to the EFCC office and some of their properties confiscated.
Orji’s son, Chiemeka was said to have been taken to the EFCC office in Abuja alongside his brother, and two vehicles confiscated from them.
“When the EFCC officers arrived on Saturday, they met Theodore Orji’s sons at home, because they both live in the same building,” a source said. “They asked to see the apartment of Aliyu and Mustapha Atiku-Abubakar but Theodore Orji’s sons refused to show them, saying their friends are out of the country, anyway.”
“The EFCC operatives then said they have intelligence that a large cache of dollars had been kept in the apartment which they had come to recover.
“They forcibly searched the apartment, but there was no hard currency or anything that could be construed as fraudulently damning,” the source said.
It is understood that Chiemeka and his brother were released soon after they were questioned at the EFCC office, but two cars belonging to them were still in possession of the anti-graft agency as of Monday morning.
EFCC spokesperson, Tony Orilade feigned ignorance of the operation when he was contacted, but he expressed strong doubts that Mr Abubakar’s son’s home could be raided.
He however said the EFCC has been investigating Mr Orji, and it was possible the former governor’s children were the target of further investigation into how state funds were used during his tenure from 2007 to 2015.
But Mr Ibe accused the Buhari administration of raising the stakes of 2019 election higher than the country could absorb.
He said, “Atiku Abubakar is destined to win the 2019 presidential election, and Nigerians are set to ensure that destiny holds by voting for him en masse,” Mr Ibe said. “The actors in Buhari’s government have now realised this possibility and are gripped by the fears of Atiku Abubakar.”
“This grievous act of intimidation now has an expiry date that is dwindling faster than a twinkle.”
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