Stop harassing opposition party members - Rep tells Buhari

A member of the House of Representatives, Bede Eke, has said that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress, APC-led government should stop harassing members of the opposition party and that the recent closure of the bank account belonging to governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state, was uncalled for.



Eke who represents Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State in an interview in Abuja also advised President Buhari to immediately investigate how the ruling APC generated and expended money for its campaigns in the 2015 general elections, saying that was the only way to give credibility to the fight against corruption.

The lawmaker also condemned the recent arraignment of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu over the alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Rules, describing the matter as an internal affairs of the senate.

According to the Ngor Okpala-born politician, freezing the bank account of governor Fayose was a complete witch-hunt because the governor has been expressing his dissatisfaction on the policies of the government of the day. He said, “I can tell you without sounding immodest, that is witch-hunt.

You don’t witch-hunt a man that says his mind all the time, he is not attacking Mr President, he is attacking his policies and the constitution protects him. “He has that freedom of expression, he has to express his mind, he is a Nigerian, not just a Nigerian, he is a senior citizen of this country and cannot because he is always talking on the issues and policies of the government and now he is a target.

“I am not against the EFCC (Economic and Financial Finance Commission) doing its job, but as far as I am concerned, it is witch-haunting. This thing is targeted at the opposition party, PDP, not just the opposition parties but the PDP members.

“If you even look at the arrests made so far, at a time, they were instructed not to allow a governor to travel, a sitting governor not to travel out of the country, by the time that one was raised, they moved out of the area and now they have gone into freezing the account of the governor of Ekiti State.

“How can you do that, he has immunity covering him, you can investigate it and keep your records, once the investigation is concluded, you keep your records until when the man leaves office, you can clamp on him and his account, please you people should help us, are we going forward or are we moving backward.”

On the allegation that campaign fund was traced to governor Fayose’s account, he said, “Let them come and justify where they (President Buhari and APC) got their money to run their campaigns, they funded it, from where did they get the money from?”

He also frowned at the arraignment of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President over the alleged forgery of the senate Rules, saying that nothing concerned the executive arm of government in the internal workings of the legislature.

He said, “This is an internal affair of the National Assembly, it has to do with the proceedings of the National Assembly, it has to do with rules of the National Assembly. It is not the duty of the executive to arraign or charge any member to court.

“If it feels that the rules of the house has been doctored, we have the Ethics and Privileges Committee if it is anything that borders on any member, the ethics and privileges committee is there to take on the matter, do their work and submit to the house, for the house to take a decision.

“So, I think it is quite unfair that what we are passing through now does not guarantee the separation of powers as is enshrined in our constitution.

“The court has said once it is something that has to do with the rules, it is an internal matter and no other superior court has set that judgement aside.”