By Ishaya Ibrahim
…Insists no going back on Presidential Election Tribunal
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of arresting the Deputy Director General (Admin) of its Presidential Campaign Organization, Tanimu Turaki, and demanded his immediate and unconditional release.
The opposition party said Turaki, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) was arrested for “no just cause.”
The party which made its position known through a statement by its national publicity secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said “Turaki’s arrest and detention is part of the grand plot by the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use state apparatus of power to intimidate PDP leaders and scuttle PDP’s determination to reclaim our February 23, 2019 Presidential election victory in court.”
The statement read in part: “Since the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the PDP expressed our unwavering determination to reclaim our victory at the tribunal, being armed with overwhelming evidence, our leaders have been subjected to escalated harassment, constant threats, blackmails, cajoling and contrivances by the APC to drop our legal option.
“It is instructive to state that Tanimu Turaki was arrested and detained
upon invitation by the EFCC to endorse a bail document for the Finance
Director of Atiku Abubakar’s company, Babalele Abdullahi, who was
arrested earlier by the commission over flimsy allegations.”
But the PDP insisted that the ruling party and the Buhari presidency were fighting a lost battle, insisting that “no amount of harassment and
threats will ever make the party to buckle in its determination to take
back the mandate, in line with the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians.”
The party said Nigerians were resolute on the struggle to reclaim “the mandate freely given to Atiku Abubakar at the polls and the PDP will pursue this decision to its logical end and secure justice for the Nigerian people.”