Enyinnaya Abaribe, senator
representing Abia south, says he met Gabriel Suswam, former governor of Benue
state, while in custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Abaribe said this on the floor of
the senate on Wednesday while explaining his recent ordeal.
This is the first time the
senator would be speaking publicly after he was arrested and released by the
secret police.
On June 22, the lawmaker was
arrested for allegedly sponsoring the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra
(IPOB). He spent four days in detention.
“On Friday 22nd of June I was
arrested at the gate of the Hilton hotel while the International Press
Institute congress was going on. I was taken to the office of the DSS by 11:30
in the morning and subsequently by 5pm I was taken to my house for a search of
my residence. When we got to my house, it was at the point I was formally
informed of why I was arrested,” Abaribe said.
“The search warrant that was used
stated clearly that I’m being accused of sponsoring a proscribed organisation,
IPOB, and so that the search was to look for evidence of such.
“After the search, which took
about five to six hours, I was taken to the office of DSS about 12 midnight and
now kept there. The late musician that Nigerians know very well called Fela
said ‘when you are inside, you are in inside world, when you are outside, you
are in outside world’.
“So when I was the inside world,
the first person that received me and who helped my transition from freedom to
incarceration was the former governor of Benue state, governor Gabriel Suswam.
He had been arrested on Tuesday, I was arrested on Friday. As at the time I was
released last Tuesday, he told me he had not been told why he was arrested.”
Abaribe also said he had been
reporting to the DSS headquarters since the court granted him bail.
The fiery lawmaker vowed not to
be cowed into silence, disclosing his plan to challenge the action of the DSS
in court.
“Let me also say Mr President
that nothing has been found on the allegation that was made. Up till this
moment, I am still on bail, administrative bail by the DSS and so every
morning, I have to report to the DSS but these things are going to be
challenged [in court]. What everybody has asked me is that where do we go from
here?” he said.
“I want to crave your indulgence
to tell every Nigerian where I want to go. I will do it by giving you Mr
President and my distinguished colleagues, a quotation from the 26th president
of the United States of America, Theodore Roosevelt.
“That quotation reads ‘patriotism
means to stand by the country, it does not mean to stand by the president or
any other public official, same to the degree to which a president stands by
the country. It is patriotic to support a president if so far as he efficiently
serve the country. It is unpatriotic to not to oppose a president whose fails
to stand by his duty to do well for the country. And it is unpatriotic not to
tell the truth whether about the president or anyone else.’
“I will continue to tell the
truth, I will continue to stand by this country, I will continue to say that no
person is bigger than this country.”
On his part, Senate President
Bukola Saraki said the ordeal of Abaribe is a sacrifice he had to make to
deepen democracy in the country.
“Senator Abaribe we are all happy
to see that you are back. Unfortunate situation, we hope that things will be
restored to normal as the issues concern you. It is one of these sacrifices we
all have to make in deepening our democracy,” Saraki said.
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