Niger State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Tanko Beji, has been arrested and detained by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after he was reportedly invited to the Abuja office of the EFCC on Thursday.
The reason for his detention after being interrogated by the EFCC was not immediately known, feelers had it the recent clampdown on opposition voices may not be unconnected with the interviews he granted the media on the party’s assessment of two years of All Progressive Congress (APC) government in Niger State.
Beji in an interview among others argued that the APC government in Niger State has performed below the expectations of Nigerlites and has been building on the foundations laid by the PDP.
A source close to the party in the state said that a chieftain of the APC in the state had complained to “Abuja” that the opposition chairman in the state, Tanko Beji, was using the media to “intimidate and harass the APC administration in the state”.
According to the source, “The APC was not happy with his criticisms of the government and that was on the strength of this complaint that Tanko Beji was invited to Abuja for questioning by the EFCC. At the EFCC office Beji was asked what he had been telling the press”.
The state PDP chairman, it was gathered could be arraigned along with the former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, and his former Chief of Staff, Alhaji Umar Mohammed Nasko, on Monday, June 12, 2017.
Beji it was learnt would be arraigned on a one-count charge of “aiding and abetting” the former governor, Babangida Aliyu, when he served as the Director General of his campaign organisation for the former governor’s second term bid.