Bishop Kukah visits Fani-Kayode, Obanikoro & Abati,in EFCC custody
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 alluded 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 based on the following events:
1) His
re-arrest at the premises of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos on the 21st of
October was done without a warrant
2) The
arrest was done after the presiding judge on the day’s matter had advised that
it would be unwise to re-arrest a man who had honoured their invitations, had
been on bail from both EFCC and the courts, has never been declared wanted and
had appeared in court of his own accord
3) He
has been held for close to two weeks without even their usual questionable
detention order which they used in holding him earlier for 67 days
Rather than feed
Nigerians with a new mundane ‘clean and orderly’ campaign at the expense of
more serious issues bordering on illegal incarceration of citizens based on
their opinions on national matters, Uwujaren and his paymasters should tell
Nigerians why they have allowed themselves to toe the path of this
administration’s vindictiveness, vengeance, vendetta and persecutions rather
than diligent prosecutions according to our laws. Until then, visits of people
like Bishop Kukah would remain a constant reminder to them that power is
transient and that light can never overcome darkness.
Signed:
Jude Ndukwe
SA (media) to Chief Femi
Fani-Kayode
November 1, 2016
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