The media aide to former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, Jude Ndukwe has berated the the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for quoting the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev’d Matthew Kukah, as saying some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, currently in its custody are cheerful.
Reacting to Kukah’s visit to the commission’s detention facility in Abuja, Ndukwe insisted that the EFCC was illegally holding his principal.
Recall that Kukah yesterday visited the detention facility of the agency, where he prayed for Fani-Kayode, Musiliu Obanikoro and Reuben Abati.
Afterwards, the spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren released a statement where he suggested that the clergyman made the statement.
But Ndukwe, in a statement he personally signed, said Uwujaren lied, saying there is nothing to be cheerful about while in custody of the EFCC.
He said, “What is there in EFCC for anyone to be cheerful about especially when someone is being illegally detained”.
The media aide also argued that for some of EFCC’s facilities to be ‘‘clean and orderly” does not give them the liberty to illegally detain Nigerians unnecessarily, stressing that “Even if EFCC converts a five-star hotel to its facility, it can never be good enough to illegally keep citizens on account of their political leanings”.
The statement reads in part, “On Monday, October 31, 2016, the highly revered Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, His Lordship, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, paid a visit to the trio of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, Musiliu Obanikoro and Dr Reuben Abati in EFCC custody. On his arrival there, he met them at the clinic and afterwards had some private moments with them away from the prying eyes of journalists.
“Bishop Kukah spoke inspirational words of encouragement to the trio wherein he encouraged them to be strong and see this as a trying period for them.
“He prayed for them before departing. It was therefore very shocking to us to read that the Commission’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, released a press statement wherein he eluded a lot of things supposedly said by the Catholic cleric and wove disheartening lies around them. Even if we decide to agree that Kukah said the clinic and detention area of the commission was ‘clean and orderly’, we reject the notion that Kukah said the trio was ‘cheerful’.
“This was obviously added to make a caricature of the seriousness of the condition of the detainees. What is there in EFCC for anyone to be cheerful about especially when someone is being illegally detained.
“It is all part of EFCC’s deliberate and wicked manipulation of the media against the trio who were met at the EFCC clinic by the bishop while undergoing some medical attention to say that they were cheerful. Also, that some of EFCC’s facilities were reportedly said to be ‘clean and orderly’ does not give them the liberty to illegally detain Nigerians for as long as they wish.
“Even if EFCC converts a five-star hotel to its facility, it can never be good enough to illegally keep citizens on account of their political leanings. For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to reiterate for the umpteenth time that the EFCC is holding Chief Femi Fani-Kayode illegally.”
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