Alleged corruption: APC, PDP clash over Oshiomhole

A REPORT on the alleged grilling of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole by the Department of State Services (DSS) has pitted the ruling party against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

APC’s National Publicity Secretary Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu said the party was unaware of Oshiomhole’s purported arrest and interrogation by the Department of State Services (DSS) on Sunday.

He described the report as a rumour that could not be confirmed because Oshiomhole was out of town.

But PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan accused the Presidency of shielding the APC chair from investigation.

The Cable, an online newspaper, had reported Oshiomhole’s alleged arrest and questioning by the DSS for an alleged corruption arising from the last APC primaries. It claimed the APC chair was held for nine hours.

According to the report, the DSS allegedly gave Oshiomhole the option of resigning his position.

The APC chairman was reported to have told his interrogators that President Muhammadu Buhari knew of all his actions and that he would only resign if the President loses confidence in him.

Reacting to the development yesterday, Isa-Onilu said: “We do not have any information on this rumour. More so, the chairman is not around in the country to confirm or deny this. As soon as we have any relevant information, you’ll be updated.”

On where Oshiomhole travelled to, he said:  “I do not have this information. I do know it’s a scheduled personal trip he could not make last week due to the November 2 deadline for the submission of candidates’ list.”

The PDP described as reprehensible, revelations that President Buhari was shielding the APC national chairman from being investigated by security operatives.

In a statement by Ologbondiyan, the PDP claimed to be privy to the pressure being mounted on the DSS by President Buhari to let Oshiomhole off the hook.

The opposition party attributed the President’s alleged intervention to fears that the DSS investigation would unearth the complicity of the Presidency and other key APC members in the alleged scam.

The PDP alleged that Oshiomhole was induced by some ministers and other APC sources in Adamawa, Rivers, Kano and Imo states to manipulate the 2019 electoral process.

It said: “If the Buhari Presidency has nothing to hide; if it is not complicit in the alleged scam, it should allow the DSS and EFCC a free hand to investigate and prosecute his party’s factional chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, particularly now that all issues are laid bare before Nigerians.

“As long as the DSS and the EFCC are not allowed to put Oshiomhole into the dock, the Buhari Presidency does not have the moral rectitude to speak on corruption.

“This is especially as the involvement of the DSS shows that the corruption burden of the APC Chairman has already become a security risk to our nation.

“Finally, the PDP cautions that in no circumstance should the Presidency escort Adams Oshiomhole out of the country, just like it did for the disgraced Buhari’s former Minister of Finance.”