- We are not aware of his arrest, says APC
Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of concealing alleged bribery and corrupt practices involving the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, who is being investigated by the Department of State Services (DSS).
But in a swift response, APC said it was unaware of the reported arrest and detention of the party’s National Chairman, Oshiomhole.
A report in an online news medium, The Cable, had it that the APC’s national chairman was quizzed last Sunday over allegations that he received bribe money from some aspirants of the party.
The main opposition party said information at its disposal revealed that apart from the billions of naira he allegedly stole from the coffers of Edo State when he was governor, Oshiomhole is facing charges for allegedly collecting billions of naira bribe from some ministers and other APC sources in Adamawa, Rivers, Kano and Imo States to manipulate the 2019 electoral process.
PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said the party is privy to the pressure from the presidency on the DSS, which reportedly detained and grilled Oshiomhole, to let him off the hook for fears that his investigation would unearth the complicity of the presidency and other key APC members in the scam.
According to him, “This is in addition to allegedly collecting billions of naira from presidency sources to influence electoral officers, independent observers and certain polling organisations ahead of the 2019 election, part of which was allegedly diverted for personal use of some APC leaders.”
The PDP stressed that as long as the DSS and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are not allowed to put Oshiomhole in the dock, the presidency does not have the moral rectitude to speak on corruption.
Ologbondiyan said: “This is especially as the involvement of the DSS shows that the corruption burden of the APC chairman has already become a security risk for our country.”
The PDP stated that the corruption allegation on the APC chairman and the continued official cover provided for him by the Buhari presidency including stalling his investigation and prosecution by the EFCC over alleged stealing of billions of naira from Edo State coffers.
“If the Buhari presidency has nothing to hide; if it is not complicit in the alleged scam, it should allow the DSS and EFCC a free hand to investigate and prosecute his party’s factional chairman, Oshiomhole, particularly now that all issues are laid bare before Nigerians,” he said.
The opposition party cautioned that under no circumstance should the presidency escort Oshiomhole out of the country, just like it did for the disgraced Buhari’s former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.
