The presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the February 23rd election has questioned the continued detention of his son-in-law- Alhaji Babalele Abdullahi and his lawyer- Uyiekpen Giwa-Osagie by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission- Nigeria’s leading anti-graft agency.
The former Vice President tweeted sharp criticism about the continued incarceration of his associates one week after the end of a disputed presidential elections. According to the PDP chief, “My son-in-law and lawyer have been detained, one for 3 weeks, and the other recently. They are paying the price for supporting me. I urge those now persecuting them to remember that a government’s mandate is to pursue peace and justice for all, and not just those who support them.”
Atiku condemned politics of harassment and intimidation- insisting that no act of coercion or political persecution using agents of the state would dissuade him from his long-settled decision to approach the court and present hard evidence that the 2019 presidential election was manipulated and the will of the people trampled upon to impose an unpopular president on the Nigerian people.
The PDP candidate had in several press releases last week called for calm amongst his supporters insisting that he is committed to using the instrumentality of the law to logically restore what he believes was his stolen mandate. The National Chairman of the Party- Prince Uche Secondus- echoed the same sentiments as Alhaji Atiku when he addressed the press on Friday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja; advising those hoping to dissuade the PDP and her presidential candidate from taking their protests to the court to shelve the idea. “We shall go to court,” Prince Secondus stated.