By Honours Akhigbe
A dependable and reliable politician in Edo State, Owere Dickson Imasogie is unhappy with what he termed the one-sided persecution of leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), across the country by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Imasogie, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State told newsmen in Benin City that APC-led administration in its bid to cover for its woeful failure to deliver good dividends of democracy to the teeming Nigerians, has resorted to persecuting members of the opposition party, the PDP with law enforcement agencies, particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He chided the APC government for what he described as a double-standard approach of fighting corruption, adding that for the war against corruption to be effective, it must be holistic in nature.
Of a particular interest to Owere Imasogie, was the recent arraignment of some PDP leaders in Edo State at a Federal High Court in Benin City, noting that his party men were innocent of the charges levelled against them.
“It does not make sense to me and other right-thinking Nigerians when the APC-led government is only interested in hunting down PDP leaders indiscriminately in the name of fighting corruption.”
“It is obvious to every well-meaning Nigerian that the APC is a failure and just buying time by deceiving themselves not Nigerians, that they are fighting corruption but all in their attempt to deceiving Nigerians into voting for them again in 2019.”
“But unfortunately for the APC, the Nigerian masses are fully aware of their tricks and would not fall for their cheap tricks and blackmails. Nigerians have since realized that APC people have nothing to offer,” he said.
Owere Imasogie further wondered why the Buhari’s government is making a mountain out of a mole hill, saying “since when has receipt of campaign funds from the national headquarters of the party could amount to the so-called money-laundering charge preferred against the Edo PDP henchmen.
“There is no political party that would say it does not spend money for elections. That of the PDP during the 2015 general election, was even a different case entirely, because the party organized series of fund-raising events at which billions of Naira was realized. Are the EFCC, the Buhari presidency and others, who are trying to drag the names and image of PDP leaders in the state in the mud, not aware of this? And if the PDP raised such funds, is it not at liberty to use the money for the election?”
“And again, the person the party gave the money to, go and work with it, even when he was invited last year by the EFCC to Port-Harcourt, gave a detailed account of how he disbursed the money accordingly through the local government party chairmen, to the ward chairmen and even to the units’ level, because one needs logistics to do any election. Who would say a party does not need money or other logistics for election?”
“Starting from Buhari, people even volunteered to pay for his party nomination form as we were told, prior to the 2015 presidential election! Can one then say he was corrupt? So, I think, what they are doing now, as repulsive as it is, is just giving more popularity to the party and its leadership because the people and the electorate are wiser now and aware that the party in power is unduly harassing, intimidating and persecuting the opposition; but I am not happy because the EFCC itself is not prosecuting or probing the APC members who equally used money in their own elections.”
“The EFCC is not telling us that the APC used money now that they are in government. Today, we are hearing now that the APC has drawn up an election budget of over twenty billion Naira for Ekiti election, setting up a ridiculous 77-man committee for Ekiti alone,” he queried.
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