The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised an
alarm over alleged plans by the Economic Crimes and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to poison its national publicity, Chief Olisa Metuh, who was arrested
earlier today.
According to a press statement obtained released by(PDP), the opposition party believes that the anti-graft agency may be planning to break Metuh and possibly poison him. Chief Olisa Metuh, the national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is presently in
EFCC custody.
Read the statement below:
"The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) demands an immediate release of the
party's National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh,
who was Tuesday morning invited and detained by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC
"This development, which did not come to us as a surprise given series of threats to our party's spokesman by the APC and the Federal Government,
who are obviously not comfortable with our stance on the confused state of the nation under their watch, is a
continuation of APC's grand design to silence and
decimate the PDP.
"The arrest of Chief Metuh today underscores the
growing political intolerance in our country and the foisting of a police state which was last Wednesday underscored by the President and Commander-in-Chief
himself, who defended why a government in a democracy should flout constitutional provision and brazenly disobey court orders.
"This onslaught against our spokesman, according to
intelligence available to us is part of a larger script by
the government to ensure that PDP wings are finally
clipped in their mission to install a dictatorial one-party state in the country.
"The excesses of security agencies under this
government, especially the Directorate of Security
Services (DSS) and the EFCC, in abridging the human
rights of PDP members have become worrisome and a
threat to our democratic evolution.
"Nigerians and the international community will recall that on a number of occasions, the PDP, through its spokesman has been outspoken on some undemocratic proclivities being exhibited by the APC-
led Federal Government in the last seven months.
"The PDP insists that for whatever reason Chief Metuh
was arrested, his rights as a citizen under the law must
not be trampled upon. We therefore demand for his
immediate release and that due process of investigation and prosecution concerning him should be strictly adhered to.
"We state this because we have been made aware of
top directives to break Chief Metuh and if possible
poison him during his detention by the EFCC.
"Chief Metuh, has since his arrest at about 10 am(Tuesday), has
been kept incommunicado, with his lawyers denied access to him.
"The PDP declares the arrest of our spokesman as the
last straw that may break our democracy. We therefore
forewarn the Federal Government and its agencies to save our democracy and forthwith release our National
Publicity Secretary.
"We are also calling on the international community
and well-meaning Nigerians to stand up for this democracy, which our party nurtured for 16 years and
deepened to a level where the opposition, for the first
time in our political history, had the opportunity to win
in a general election."
As at the time of filing this report, it was not clear what
the situation was with the PDP publicity secretary as no
one had been able to hear from him.
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