The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the immediate release of Chief Olisa Metuh, its spokesman, who was taken into the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and held incommunicado since Tuesday morning.
PDP alleged that the anti-graft agency had been given directives from the top to break Metuh psychologically or poison him dead in EFCC’s detention in continuation of the ruling All Progressives Congress’ (APC) grand design to silence and decimate PDP.
Moreover, the leading opposition party described Metuh’s detention as an attempt by the APC government to silence the opposition and pave way for a one-party dictatorship.
In a statement by its National Secretary, Mr Wale Oladipo, PDP said: “The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demands 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 APC and the Federal Government, which 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 rest of Oladipo’s statement reads: “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’s 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, since his arrest at about 10 am, has been kept incommunicado, with his lawyers denied access to him.
“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.”
