We are worried that Buhari's government is planning to arrest Obasanjo -PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday expressed worry over allegation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, accusing the Federal Government of plotting to arrest him on trumped up charges.



Obasanjo, who raised the alarm in a statement issued by his spokesman, Kehinde Akinyemi, cited his persistent criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as reason for his travail.

The PDP, in a statement issued by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, few hours after Obasanjo raised the alarm, said the revelation coming from a man of Obasanjo’s status, was terrifying.

According to PDP, the development has heightened tension in the polity and confirmed the party’s fears that the nation has descended into a police state where any Nigerian, who holds a divergent view to President Buhari’s 2019 re-election bid, becomes endangered.

The party said: “The alarm by Chief Obasanjo has further shown that the PDP has not been crying wolf regarding the plots by the Federal Government to frame, arrest, detain and arraign political opponents of the APC, including regular Nigerians, for holding or canvasing opinions that are divergent to the interest of those in power.

“We invite Nigerians to note the travails faced by perceived opponents of the Buhari Presidency, including Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Senators Shehu Sani and Dino Melaye, who had raised similar alarms in the past.

“The PDP urges Nigerians to note how APC controlled security forces, on Wednesday, arrested and detained opposition members in Ogun State, including a member of the House of Assembly, Hon Adebiyi Adeleye, who were going about their legitimate activities, only to tag them as cultists.”

The party condemned what it described as APC’s resort to persecution, intimidation, harassment and framing of its members and other dissenting voices.

It added that the government’s action was aimed at suppressing the opposition ahead of the 2019 elections.

“PDP wants the APC and the Buhari Presidency to note that no amount of coercion, intimidation and illegal arrests will alter the determination of Nigerians to vote out the dysfunctional APC and rescue our nation from the shackles of the Buhari Presidency and its misrule, come 2019,” the party added.