The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the arrest of the
\nSpeaker, Clerk and nine members of the Kano State Legislature by the EFCC
\nas an undisguised case of political vendetta by a hurting presidency,
\nwhose target is actually the State Governor.<\/p>\n
In a statement in Lagos, Tuesday, by its Interim National Publicity
\nSecretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said
\nsince the arrest of the lawmakers for carrying out their statutory duty of
\napproving a budget cannot be justified by any law,
\nit is clear to all discerning Nigerians that the only motive can only be
\nto harass and intimidate the lawmakers of a state that
\nrecently escaped from the hell-hole called the PDP to join the APC.<\/p>\n
It said the politically-motivated arrest also undoubtedly marked the
\nbeginning of the long-expected series of persecution by a desperate
\nFederal Government, against APC states, in particular those states that
\nhave recently ducked from the cascading PDP plague.<\/p>\n
APC therefore called for the immediate release of the legislators by the
\nmalleable EFCC, which has suddenly found enough resources from its
\ndried-up coffers to go after innocent men, when the same commission has
\nlooked the other away while monumental corruption stalked the land,
\nwhether it is the Oduahgate, the fuel subsidy scam or the SURE-P heist,
\njust to list a few.<\/p>\n
\u201dNowhere in the world are lawmakers arrested for carrying out their
\nconstitutional-mandated role of approving a budget. The world must be
\nhaving a good laugh at the lack of ingenuity by a government that is so
\neager to extract a pound of flesh from supposed political enemies that it
\nwould orchestrate arrests for offences unknown to law.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe allegation that Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso\u2019s supplementary budget was
\nmeant to cover-up a dubious transaction due to a budget review request to
\nthe State Assembly to the value of 28 billion Naira, from the initial
\nbudget of 24 billion Naira, is as spurious as it is laughable, just as the
\nEFCC\u2019s claim that the arrest followed a petition by a stakeholder in the
\nstate is questionable.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe tragedy of the unfolding scenario, which will surely extend to other
\nAPC states in the days ahead, is that a democratically-elected government
\nis toeing the well-worn vindictive path of a military dictatorship by
\nharassing and intimidating supposed opponents and stifling the opposition.
\nThe Gestapo-style siege on the Kano House of Assembly is a throwback to
\nwhat Nigerians thought was a bygone era of military dictatorship. We hate
\nto say it, but we have been proven right in our warning in October 2013
\nthat the President was using Rivers State to test-run fascism. Now, he
\nseems ready to roll,\u201d the party said.<\/p>\n
It vowed to use all constitutional means to resist any attempt to use the
\ninstitutions of state against the opposition; to use trumped-up charges to
\nvictimize perceived political opponents, and to curtail the citizens\u2019
\nconstitutionally-sanctioned right of free association<\/p>\n
\u201dFrom the moment Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was dragged before the Code of
\nConduct Tribunal over a case that lacked merit in every sense to the
\narrest of Sule Lamido\u2019s sons and the grounding of Gov. Chibuike Amaechi\u2019s
\nplane, the Jonathan Administration has not relented in its search for any
\ncrude measure to badger the opposition and perceived opponents to
\nsubmission.<\/p>\n
\u201dBut if history is any guide, no force is good enough to stop an idea
\nwhose time has come and, for us at the APC, the cheap shots from a
\ndiminished presidency and the evil machinations of a crumbling behemoth
\ncalled the PDP can only serve to strengthen our resolve to rescue Nigeria
\nfrom the clutches of both entities, which are steeped in medieval tactics
\nof coercion, even as governance has suffered a crushing neglect,\u201d APC
\nsaid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the arrest of the Speaker, Clerk and nine members of the Kano State Legislature by the EFCC as an undisguised case of political…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n