Secondus warns Magu, says EFCC fighting one-sided corruption war

The national chairman of the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has rained a series of warnings to the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, saying the country is very fragile and if not handled with proper care could explode if Magu “continues in his impunity.”

“Nigeria in a keg of gunpowder. I want to sound a note of warning to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, that the country could explode any moment if he continues in his impunity,” Secondus said.

Secondus, who directs his grievances to Magu, accuses him of using EFCC to harass and intimidate opposition members, especially top members of PDP.

“The country is in a keg of gunpowder at the moment as a result of your hatchet job for the ruling government and I warn you to get away from this illegitimate job of using instruments of state to harass and intimidate opponents.

“The Federal Government and the ruling party have listed critical players in opposition including myself the presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, his vice Peter Obi, the Senate president Bukola Saraki, speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, and other top party leaders and their associates for arrest on frame-up crimes. The chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has made himself a willing tool to carry out the APC script on how to cage and crush the PDP.”

Secondus, who relied on the information he got, also accused the former Lagos state Governor, Bola Tinubu, and his Akwa Ibom counterpart, Godswill Akpabio, of strategising on behalf of the ruling APC to dislodge, arrest and detain PDP leaders and family members, as well as freeze their bank accounts.

“Available intelligence shows that the former Lagos state Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former Akwa Ibom state Governor Godswill Akpabio are presiding over clandestine meetings and developing strategies for the APC which is aimed at freezing critical leaders of the opposition.

“Aside arrest and detention of opposition leaders, their family members and business associates have been lined up for intimidation and harassment including freezing their business interests and their bank accounts,” Secondus alleged.

The warning was not unconnected with the recent search of the Abuja residence of the sons of Atiku Abubakar, Aliyu and Mustapha Atiku. Although EFCC has cleared the air that Abubakar and Aliyu were not the target of the impromptu search, but Theodore Orji’s son, Ogbonna Orji, Secondus insisted that it was a plot to intimidated the PDP presidential candidate.

He said it was an afterthought fabrication that the son of the PDP presidential candidate was not the target in the raid of an apartment housing him in Abuja, insisting that the game plan privy to the party was clear on who was the ultimate target.

Secondus said the search was the continuation of a search conducted on Atiku’s plane few weeks ago when he arrived in Abuja from Dubai. He alleged that because no incriminating evidence was found on the aircraft of the former vice president by security operatives, EFCC extended the search to his children’s home thinking of finding something incriminating. “I want to remind Nigerians that these acts of impunity are in continuation of the embarrassment they caused our presidential candidate and former vice president of this country when he was thoroughly searched at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport by operatives of the state on his return from overseas on November 11, 2018.”

Secondus also said that the bank account of our vice presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, as well as that of his friends and family members as part of a large scheme to keep the party distracted from its focus of regaining power in 2019, were frozen, alleging that, by January, APC has plans to dislodge, falsely accuse and jail PDP members. Meanwhile, EFCC has confirmed the arrest of Theodore Orji’s son, Ogbonna Orji, on accusation of money laundering, but denied searching Atiku’s children’s homes nor arresting them.

“We have received several calls and email messages asking us to confirm the arrest of the sons of the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, as being alleged in some quarters. Some only said we raided the apartments of Atiku’s sons looking for foreign currencies. This is nothing but another tales by moonlight,” EFCC said. “We never went after Atiku’s sons neither were Atiku’s sons among the two boys arrested. There is no link whatsoever to Atiku,’’ the commission reiterated.

In the same trend, the presidency has equally debunked the PDP’s version of the story, calling it “fake news” and asking Nigerians to “ignore them.”

Reacting to the alleged raid of Atiku’s son’s home and seizure of Obi’s account, the presidential spokesperson on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, said, “The story about the raid [supposedly] ordered by Buhari-led government on the home of PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s son and the fairy tale on the alleged blockage of the bank accounts of the running mate, Governor Peter Obi and his family are both untrue, and should be dismissed as just another manifestation of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP’s growing expertise in fake news” for “it is impossible to find in Nigeria today, anyone propagating fake news more than the PDP.”

Often, EFCC faces criticism from different quarters for working to the dictates of the government in power in order to bring down opposition. The opposition often alludes that EFCC only accuses its (opposition) of being corrupt but closes its eyes on the members of the ruling party who are deemed to be corrupt.

Such accusation did not start today. But analysts say such one-sided fight against corruption has been very pronounced during the current administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Why such accusation? It has been often said that EFCC, as it stands today, is not independent from the dictates of the ruling party.

The former boss of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has called on federal government to free the EFCC from all form of external influence in order to win the war against corruption. Ribadu said for Nigeria to move forward in its fight against corruption, the anti-corruption institutions such as the EFCC and ICPC must be independent in order to function optimally in the discharge of their duties without undue external interference.

JOSPEH MAURICE OGU