Alleged N400M Fraud: Putting Metuh In Handcuffs Is To Silence Opposition – PDP…Blame Yourselves For Your Woes, APC Hits Back

Taking the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Olisa Metuh to court in handcuffs has been described as a brazen display of authoritarianism and a strong move by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to silence the opposition

The PDP said that the development betrayed an extra-judicial, top political witch-hunt policy of the All Progressives Congress, which it said was carefully designed to humiliate, embarrass and portray PDP leaders as common criminals and set the stage to cow and decimate opposition and perceived enemies of the government.

In a statement signed by the party’s National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo today, Tuesday, the PDP said the aim of the of the ruling APC is to break Metuh.

According to the PDP “The question remains, if not to mortify, dehumanise and break Metuh, who has been very vocal against the APC administration, and of course to send a signal to others critical of the government, what else would have informed the decision to produce him in court in handcuffs, even when his case does not border on security threat?.

“Is this an attempt to sway the court and ambush the judicial process against our National Publicity Secretary, all because of his stance against observed ineptitude and dictatorial tendencies of this administration?

“The PDP invites all Nigerians and the international community to note the emerging barefaced abuse of state power and violation of constitutional provisions regarding the arrest, detention and eventual arraignment of our spokesperson.”

Oladipo added that Nigerians by now, should be extremely scared that the country was fast drifting into what he called a police state where being in opposition or holding views divergent to that of the government makes one a criminal and an enemy of the state.

He alleged that for now, the target of the on-going “lopsided war against corruption is the PDP and its leaders” while all APC members, including those with known corruption issues had been immune from investigation, arrest and prosecution.

Oladipo added that, more worrisome was the fact that institutions of government, especially security and corrective agencies have now fallen victims of dictatorial abuses.

With this, he said the PDP was afraid that in no time, ordinary citizens of Nigerians, who in the last 16 years have lived under the rule of law and constitutionally guaranteed personal liberty, would begin to suffer brutality and oppression.

He said, “Under PDP administration, some Nigerians, including APC leader and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu were tried but never humiliated; now we see security operatives under this regime being used to crush and humiliate the opposition.”

In a swift reaction to the PDP allegation however, the All Progressives Congress said the opposition party has no one to blame but itself for its current woes.

The ruling APC said it was surprised that the PDP has continued to blame everyone but itself for its self-inflicted problems which has led to the sorry state the PDP finds itself.

National Secretary of the APC, Mai Bala Buni said this in a statement he signed in Abuja while reacting to comments attributed to the National Secretary of the PDP, Wale Oladipo who was quoted as saying some PDP members were being “used by the APC, to draw political capital from the present challenges facing our party [PDP].”

According to Buni, such comments were not only funny and silly but were also unfounded allegations. The APC scribe said the PDP now sounds like a broken record with its daily conspiracy theories blaming external forces and unseen hands for its electoral misfortunes, in-fighting, mind-boggling corruption charges and on-going probe of some PDP leaders.

Buni said, “The question begging for answers is: Why does the PDP choose to grope in the dark while reality stares it in the face? Did the PDP not know that it will one day pay for the impunity, recklessness and shocking mis-management of the country’s common wealth perpetuated under its watch for 16 years?

“For the record, the APC has no hand in the in-fighting and resultant implosion being witnessed in PDP’s hierarchy. Perhaps the wind of Change has blown through the PDP camp and many PDP members realise the need to embrace and enforce change.”

The APC reiterated its earlier call on members of the PDP who are genuinely inspired by the APC-led administration to join the APC fold noting that it is their right to abandon a sinking ship and join one that is smooth-sailing.