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Analysis… Anti-corruption war: A plot to silence opposition?

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The plan is clearly working. As at the last count, over ten chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been arrested and detained. Some of them have since been released on conditional bail with their travelling documents seized by security agencies.

Others have remained in custody despite court orders to the contrary. Among them is immediate former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki and the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, who was only recently charged to court after ten days in detention. The court fixed hearing for his bail application at a later date.

It is believed many more are about to be picked up by security forces. In theory, the plot seems to be have been crafted around the alleged $2.1billion arms procurement deal to get as many opposition figures as possible into government’s nets. The final plan? To contain the opposition and whip the recalcitrants into shape. The PDP has been crying out on this for a long time but has been generally ignored by the public.

Investigations revealed that forces in the Presidency have perfected strategies to use the anti-corruption war to fight the PDP and opposition community to a standstill. Nigerians, the strategists are aware, are disposed to believing a corruption tag placed on anyone. Using the anti-corruption weapon will sweep in virtually all members of the PDP knowing many of them have put their hands into the government’s till.

By tagging opposition figures as corrupt, Nigerians will never believe whatever else they say but dismiss them as collective thieves unworthy of getting their attention. It will also damage them politically and destroy the party’s chances of seizing power again at the federal level. The plot is working, at the moment, to perfection with the anti-corruption tool as the ultimate weapon.

But discerning Nigerians are beginning to raise dust over the matter. One of them is constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana, who expressed serious disgust over government’s failure to obey court rulings to release Dasuki. The former NSA has been granted bail twice by the courts. He met the bail conditions and was on his way out of detention when he was picked up again at the prison gate.

Falana said: “The decision of the SSS to ignore the order admitting Col. Dasuki to bail coupled with the failure to re-arraign him on fresh charges is tantamount to impunity in every material respect,” Mr. Falana said.

“If the federal government were aggrieved by the order admitting Col. Dasuki to bail it should have challenged it in the Court of Appeal.

“Much as the Nigerian people are fully behind the Buhari administration in the patriotic move to recover the looted wealth of the nation, the federal government should be advised to ensure that the procedure for the loot recovery meets the tenets of the rule of law.”

He said the anti-corruption war has to be fought using the appropriate instruments of the law and not crude methods. This tally with the views of many who are worried the government appears to be fighting a selective war against corruption. They point out that chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are as corrupt as PDP members, if not more. Yet, none of them, they say, has been picked up.

Perhaps in response to this one-sided approach, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) picked up an ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, Isa Jafar, a former Military Administrator of Kaduna State. He was arrested for allegedly collecting N160 million from Dasuki from the arms fund.

He was released two days after because EFCC said he already admitted guilt and refunded N100m with a commitment to return the outstanding N60million soonest. While he was let off the hook, Metuh is still in detention for the same offence. He was said to have collected N400million from Dasuki through a company he has substantial interest in.

Read also: After 10 days in custody, court fixes date for Metuh’s bail hearing

Metuh admitted he received undisclosed amount of money from former President Goodluck Jonathan to carry out some assignments as a national chieftain of the PDP. The opposition spokesperson is still in government detention since he was picked up. The EFCC also obtained an order from an Abuja Magistrate Court to keep the Anambra-born politician in its custody until investigations are concluded into the alleged case.

This method of arresting and detaining suspects while gathering evidence has also been criticized as being contrary to civilized modes of crime fighting, and an abuse of individuals’ fundamental right to freedom, or being presumed innocent, until proven otherwise by a competent court.

In a recent statement, Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, who stated his support for the anti-corruption war, bemoaned a situation where the EFCC would first arrest and detain a person before shopping for evidence against him. “The EFCC appears to be operating a system in which an accused person is first arrested, detained endlessly while the anti-corruption agency goes about looking for evidence”, he said.

On the surface, Metuh’s arrest appears justifiable given he has not denied accepting the said fund. But he is no small fry in the nation’s political space. He is the leading voice of the opposition and had alleged government was after him to gag opposition. It is impossible not to interpret his arrest and continued detention as an attempt in that direction.

In his absence, the PDP is certainly depleted without a clear leader, or a voice to criticize any action or policy of the Buhari-led government. This has further decimated the arsenals of the main opposition party. The surest winner is the APC, which is left to carry on with governance without any inhibition. The development is a further dent on the nation’s multiparty system with Nigeria at the brink of becoming a one party state.

It is also a big stain on the ruling party’s political tolerance. Many have expressed serious reservations with President Muhammadu Buhari’s dictatorial tendencies as a former Military Head of State when he was gunning for the big post. They appear to have been vindicated given the desperate response of the APC to every criticism and opposition to its policy thrusts and decisions.

Yet, this is a party that benefitted so much from opposition politics in the immediate government. The APC gave the PDP no breathing space, constantly knocking down its every move and activity. Jonathan once complained he was the most abused President based on the scathing, critical assessment of his day to-day activities.

The current Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made a name for himself tearing apart the PDP while it was in power. He was unsparing in his criticisms, most times going over the board to make his case. Yet, he was never molested or harassed, let alone arrested. He lived as a king and was untouchable.

But the APC has shown it is not ready to tow the same path. It is proving to be intolerant of opposition views and figures. It has balked at every critical view, even warning that the office of the President should not be disrespected. But this was its stock in trade throughout its stint in the opposition. It is ironic that the party that rode to power on the strength of abuses and insults is asking to be treated differently.

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Even if he is released today, Metuh will clearly not be the same biting, hard tackling opposition mouthpiece he used to be. His experience in detention would have softened and emaciated him. APC’s National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, last Monday said the party was unapologetic over its approach to the anti-corruption war.

He told reporters: “The APC is not in any way apologetic. We promised change and there is a lot of rot in the system. This must be cleansed and whoever and whatever ox is being gored, where ever the tree is going to fall, so, let it be.

“We must get used to the fact that in the process of cleansing this nation, there is going to be a lot of bullets to bite.

“The APC has not been in office at national level in the last 10 to 16 years. So, the issue of whether somebody is PDP or not PDP does not arise. We have a nation to cleanse. The president has committed himself to that and we should support it whatever way it comes. We are not being apologetic about that at all.”

He however denied that the party is out to stifle opposition. According to him, “It has nothing to do with witch-hunting. It just happened that the dramatis personae of the period all happened to be on one side of the political divide. We have absolutely no intention to pressurise any group or any nation towards a one-party state. It is not in our interest so to do because we need a vibrant opposition.”

But asides from Jafar, no one in the APC has been questioned or arrested for being corrupt. This is something many cannot live with considering the fact that many of the party chieftains have corruption cases in court.

For now, the plot to stifling opposition appears on course but the APC will certainly be worse off for it. The nation will be the ultimate loser.

……… By Olumide Olaoluwa

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