There is no doubt that the period we are in now in the most populous country in subsaharan Africa is not the best of times for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). After losing out in the 2015 general elections, hence crisscrossing the political divide from a once powerful ruling party to the opposition camp, the party is currently fighting for survival- something similar to what the late Bob Marley described as the great survival.
The saying that the only constant thing in life is change is a statement to reckon with here. The PDP never envisaged that by the time the 2015 poll is lost and won, it would dramatically turn to the opposition party in the country. Just as it has been trying hard to swallow this bitter pill of reality, the anti-corruption war initiated by President Muhammadu Buhari which came like a hurricane is currently knocking the party off its foot. The arms deal probe scandal has so far opened a can of worms that has landed some prominent chieftains of the PDP in hot soup.
Some prominent Nigerians who served under the past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan now have one or two questions on corruption to answer. Apart from the Chief culprit in the arms probe deal and former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sambo Dasuki, there are others who have been roped in the probe, including former minister of state for finance, Bashir Yuguda, chairman of DAAR communication, Raymond Dopkesi and former Chairman of the PDP, Haliru Bello.
A good number of Nigerians are firmly of the opinion that PDP chieftains should be made to face the full wrath of the law if they are found guilty. They, however, believe that the arms deal probe should not be politicized. But some political pundits have labelled the arrest of some PDP chieftains as a witch hunt by President Buhari whose fight against corruption is said to be allegedly selective. The party has consistently accused the government of the day of selective justice.
The wailing of the party reached a crescendo last week when its spokesman, Olisa Metuh was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly receiving the sum of N1.4 billion from the arms deal till. He was said to have cried bitterly and refused to eat or drink anything in the commission’s custody. This is the almighty Metuh who once promised to keep the All Progressives Congress’ ( APC’s) federal government on its toes.
True to his words, Metuh had been releasing statements like bullets. His press releases which were almost running out of fashion criticised every single move and policies of the government, be they good or bad. The ruling class saw Metuh as someone suffering from ‘mouth diarrhea’ considering way he ran his mouth when attacking government. While some APC faithful have tended to describe him as a charter box, others said he is negligible pocket radio that utters baseless allegation.
Whichever diction one prefers to the other in describing Metuh, the truth remains that in the past seven months, he gave the ruling party a run for its money. Above all, there is a growing concern about the manner in which the probe is rapidly taking a deep political dimension. Every step taken by anti- graft agencies to unravel the sleaze behind the arms procurement deal is being tagged as political vendetta against the opposition. The president and the federal government have been on the firing line since the PDP spokesman was picked last week.
Fortune played a sad tune for Metuh last Tuesday. He was arrested in his house by operatives of the EFCC, a development which drew both condemnation and applause in equal measure. Some analysts say they are shocked that all the while, the PDP national publicity secretary has been criticising the government of the day with soiled hands. According to them, Metuh’s case will be double jeopardy if he is eventually declared culpable because he had no moral right to criticise the government when he knew he had a skeleton in his cupboard. The thinking is simple: “He who comes to equity must come with clean hands”.
Some keen observers believe that he may have seen his arrest coming, which was why he recently stepped up attacks on the presidency to a grand scale. To this set of observers his arrest is considered as a way of silencing him and a case of ‘I told you I’d get at you’. On the other hand, some other close watchers see Metuh’s arrest as a payback by the presidency for the way and manner the PDP spokesman had been criticising the APC government. What a subtle way of silencing the opposition with the arrest of its key members, especially its mouthpiece, they claimed.
Metuh was arrested by operatives of the EFCC to answer questions bordering on how the sum of N1.4 billion strayed from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser into a company, Destra, linked to him. but the PDP denied the allegations labelled against their spokesman. The party said Metuh never received N1.4 billion or N4 million monthly from the office of the NSA. The office of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP faulted certain apparently sponsored reports in some section of the media dropping figures and falsely claiming that Metuh got the sum of N1.4 billion in addition to receiving N4 million monthly stipend from the Office of the NSA.
A statement by Richard Ihediwa, special assistant to Metuh described the reports as completely false, mischievous and fabricated to mislead the public and derail the course of proper investigation on issues relating to Chief Metuh. He expressed worry at the turnout of events since Metuh was arrested and detained, claiming that fictitious figures have continued to be bandied against him in the media. According to PDP, Metuh, as a well-known citizen and a public figure, had always stated his readiness to honour any invitation by the EFCC or any agency of government for that matter on any issue regarding any allegations against him.
“This office is therefore persuaded that the continued detention of Chief Metuh is ostensibly part of the plot by the APC to silence or keep the opposition spokesperson out of circulation for obvious reasons of clipping the wings of the opposition PDP”, Ihediwa added.
In another statement signed by its National Legal Adviser, Barr. Victor Kwon at the weekend, the PDP said the continued incarceration of its spokesman by the EFCC since last Tuesday without charging him to court was in clear breach of his constitutionally guaranteed liberty and fundamental rights. The party added that it clearly showed the dictatorial character of the President Buhari-led APC federal government, which has not hidden its disdain for rule of law and an appetite to gag the opposition.
It also cautioned against the avoidable tension and looming political crisis over the continuous clamp-down on its leaders. The PDP stressed that relying on a purported ‘holding charge’ said to have been derived from a Magistrate to detain Metuh beyond the statutory period allowed by the law is in total violation of the constitution and extant corresponding rulings by several trial and appellate courts in the country.
Apart from the PDP, individual members of the party have also cried foul over the continued detention of Metuh. The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu at the weekend warned against alleged trampling on the opposition and total disregard for the rule of law in the ongoing anti-corruption war waged by the present administration.
Expressing fear that Nigeria was fast descending into an authoritarian state, the deputy senate president said the continued detention of the PDP mouthpiece was an attempt to gag the opposition and therefore unhealthy for democracy. Although he reaffirmed PDP’s support for a genuine anti-graft crusade, Ekweremadu, however, decried a situation where such crusade turns out to be “a calculated attempt to decimate and silence the opposition, while members of the ruling party with serious corruption allegations go about their businesses”.
Ayodele Fayose, the governor of Ekiti state, also came out strongly against the federal government. He accused President Buhari of single-handedly identifying and prosecuting leading figures of the PDP without the required evidence. According to the governor, Buhari has been operating as the accuser, prosecutor and judge, and at the same time, “carrying on as if those he accused of corruption have already been convicted”.
Fayose challenged the president to direct the EFCC to charge Metuh to court if the commission was sure of evidence of fraud against him. He contended that EFCC appeared 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.
But reacting to the allegations, the federal government denied that it was out to decimate the PDP by the arrest of its officials. Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed urged journalists to also conduct their independent investigations on the allegations leveled against the suspects and verify if they were genuine or not.
According to the Minister, EFCC don’t contact the president before doing their job and on the other hand, President Buhari does not direct the EFCC on who to arrest. He said, “I think the first point to make is that this government is not micro-managing any of the anti-graft agencies . I know for a fact that they don’t contact the President or anybody before they do their job.
“I think the media also has to do more than they are doing right now, they should investigate these allegations and also make their independent judgement about it. Honestly if the EFCC or ICPC says that they are able to trace certain amount of money to my account, I don’t want you to believe it. I want you to also ask for proof and do your investigation. I can assure you that in this government, no functionary in government micromanages or directs the EFCC or ICPC on who to arrest and who not to arrest”.
The APC as a party did not spare the PDP either. The ruling party at the weekend alleged that there was a plot by the opposition party to stampede and blackmail anti-corruption agencies over ongoing corruption cases being investigated. National Secretary of the APC, Mai Mala Buni who spoke on behalf so the party urged the anti-corruption agencies not to be distracted by these syndicated and coordinated attacks. He urged the anti-graft agencies to continue to employ all legal and legitimate avenues to bring to book all looters of the country ‘s common wealth.
The APC maintained that the ongoing war against corruption was not selective. It added that anybody guilty of corrupt practices must face the law.
The PDP thinks it has come under siege with its key members clamped in detention for allegedly benefitting from the $2.1billion arms procurement deal. The opposition party is insisting that its current predicament has nothing to do with any diverted fund. Rather, it sees the whole thing as a carefully orchestrated plan by its successor in power, the APC, to decimate the party and a perceived grand design to achieve a one-party state.
But the federal government and the APC say whatever the the PDP is saying is like crying wolf. The ruling party insists that its predecessor must pay for its years of impunity in power. Nigerians are becoming more rapt with this political mudslinging. Close watchers say they are waiting to see who comes out of the arms deal saga on a clean slate between the APC and the PDP. Analysts also believe that it is still misty to decipher who is really telling the truth between the government of the day and the major opposition party. They believe that the time would soon come for the true worshipers to worship God in spirit and in truth.
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