The People Democratic Party, PDP has condemned the arrest of the former Chairman of DAAR Communications Plc, owners of African Independent Television and Ray Power FM, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, saying it was aware that more “notable PDP leaders have similarly been listed for arrest over unproven allegations.
The former ruling party alleged that this move was “pursuant to the plot by the APC to cow and silence opposition in the country.”
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, on Tuesday, the PDP said “the military style of pronouncement of guilt on Chief Dokpesi before any fair hearing, betrays the fact that he is a victim of political persecution and mob trial by the APC government.”
It added, “While the PDP is not against the war against corruption, we insist that the crusade must be carried out within the limits of the law and not as a guise to persecute and torture opposition elements in the country.
“Our fear is that with the pronouncement of guilt even without being given the opportunity as a citizen to state his own side of the story, the President Buhari-led government is sidestepping the laws to ensure that Chief Dokpesi does not get justice in the court, a plot which they want to extend to other PDP leaders.
Meanwhile, Senate President Bukola Saraki on Tuesday distanced himself from the arms deal, said to be about N60bn, involving the immediate past NSA.
Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, said contrary to report published in an online medium, he had never had anything to do with the purchase of security equipment.
He equally denied being a member of any committee or body, which had any link with defence or national security in his entire political career.
The statement reads in part, “As a member of the Seventh Senate, Dr. Saraki was not a member of any of the committees which have oversight function on the Ministry of Defence or the intelligence and national security apparatus.
“If he was tagged the leader of the opposition to the Jonathan administration, how then would he be privy to arms purchases and have the influence to blackmail any government agency or institution over the release of funds?
“The Senate President would like to alert members of the public to this new plot by this particular online medium to tarnish his reputation as the medium and its sponsors pursue the singular objective of removing him from the office of the Senate President, an objective they have since failed to achieve within and outside the National Assembly.
“This time round, the medium and its sponsors chose to drag the Senate President to this reigning and current issue of arms purchase by insinuating that he once blackmailed the Central Bank of Nigeria to give him and other Senators N250m as a way of covering up the arbitrary withdrawal by the NSA from the security fund approved by the former President.
“First, there is no logic in the claim as Saraki, who was persecuted by the last administration, could have had the influence and good standing to walk up to the Central Bank to demand any money, having exposed many atrocities of the past administration.
“Therefore, for record purposes, Saraki did not collect any money from any official of the CBN in respect of any arms deal.”
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory on Tuesday asked the Minister in charge of the nation’s capital, Mohammed Bello, to begin the installation of bomb detectors in all the mass transit buses plying the city as part of measures to curb insurgency.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Dino Melaye, who stated this at its inaugural sitting in Abuja, also asked the FCT minister to ensure that streetlights started working immediately in order to prevent the high rate of crime and accidents at night.
He also frowned on the return of commercial motorcyclists and cattle rearers to the city centre.
Apart from this, Melaye appealed to the minister to order the removal of erected tents and shanties, abandoned vehicles and total evacuation of garbage, commercial or begging activities on pedestrian bridges.
He said, “The security challenges we are facing in the FCT cannot be overemphasised. Abuja, by its conception and design, is expected to be a safe haven for all residents, considering its status as the seat of the Federal Government.
“This is indeed worrisome. The financial loss of any attacks can best be imagined but the loss of human lives is unquantifiable and inexcusable.”
$2bn arms deal: PDP kicks after DSS arrest Dokpesi
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