Jude Ndukwe, an aide to former aviation minister, Femi Femi-Kayode, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of planning to kill his principal who was re-arrested on Friday in Abuja.
Mr. Ndukwe says the EFCC intends to poison the outspoken opposition politician.
He said in a statement that the arrest of Mr. Fani-Kayode, after he had been granted bail, was in furtherance of the purpose of silencing the opposition under the guise of fighting corruption.
“We are therefore aghast but not surprised that this latest action of the EFCC is in sync with the script writers of this whole episode to silence Fani-Kayode by hook or by crook,” he said.
“Words have filtered to us from credible sources within the presidency and the security agencies that the ultimate aim of those who are behind the former minister’s travails is to apply ‘extreme measures’ on him.
“We have also been told that in security circles, that means to have him killed through the use of some poisonous substances that would break his health down irreversibly and eventually kill him even months after he might have been released so that the suspicion would not be at the doorsteps of state agents.
“If not, why allow Nenadi Usman (former minister of State of Finance) and Director of Finance in the PDP Campaign Organisation, Danjuma, and others charged alongside Fani-Kayode to go and only him was re-arrested in the court premises?
“Our fears now are that nothing is beyond this government of sadists and fascists. We call on the good people of Nigeria, democrats and lovers of this great nation to rise and demand that no Nigerian should be persecuted or assassinated based on his beliefs and or opinions on critical national matters,” he said.
Mr. Fani-Kayode had on Wednesday, cried out that the commission was planning to re-arrest him and detain him indefinitely.
Confirming Mr. Fani-Kayode’s fears, the EFCC on Friday re-arrested him, based on fresh allegations of fraud.
He was arrested as he emerged from a courtroom where has been facing money laundering charges since June.
But the EFCC justified the re-arrest, saying the former minister had pending issues with the commission.
“He has pending matter in Abuja for which the EFCC had invited him, but he has refused to come,” Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman for the commission said.
“For sometime now he has been asked to report, but he has refused to come.”
Asked to state the new charges against Mr. Fani-Kayode-Kayode, he said the charges would be made clear when he is arraigned.
Mr. Ndukwe however, admitted that the EFCC had invited his principal afresh, but noted that his lawyers had responded to the invitation, citing health reasons.
He said since Mr. Fani-Kayode was granted bail, he had been on a recovery therapy as recommended by his doctors having suffered untold hardship in the hands of the EFCC.
“But realizing that their plans to torture him into silence did not work, the Commission immediately swung into action again by sending him another round of letters of invitation for some other imagined charges to which his lawyers responded promptly by informing the EFCC of his health conditions.,” he said.
“Despite this, the Commission filed their fresh case against him at the Federal High Court Abuja in the Charge No. FHC/ABJ140/2016 earlier this month but despite the presence of Fani-Kayode’s legal team, the EFCC were neither there nor did they send any representative nor was their legal team in court. The case was consequently adjourned to November 10, 2016.”
Mr. Ndukwe accused the EFCC of “graduating” from being an investigative body meant to serve the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians to a vindictive institution willing to do the biddings of some “vengeful cabal”.
“The re-arrest of Fani-Kayode is needless as much as it is reckless,” he said. “We are watching very closely, and should anything untoward happen to FFK, Nigerians of course know who to hold responsible even as we demand for his immediate and unconditional release now,” he said.
But Mr. Uwujaren declined to respond to the allegation that the commission was plotting to harm the former minister.
Fani-Kayode’s re-arrest: EFCC plans to kill Fani-Kayode with poison – Aide
