Taiwo Popoola
Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson, has slammed the All Progressives Congress, APC, saying the party is now known for playing politics with serious national issues.
According to him, it was this reason that a former director general of Nigeria’s National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ayodele Oke, was once prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, without having anything against him.
Oke was appointed by then-President Goodluck Jonathan to head the NIA but the APC government led by late former President Muhammadu Buhari used the EFCC to open corruption cases against him.
Speaking after the screening of the first ambassadorial nominees submitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu, of which Mr Oke was one of the three names, Dickson slammed the APC, insisting that such prosecution should not have happened in the first place.
Recall that President Tinubu had taken the names of three individuals to the Senate for screening and confirmation as ambassadors.
They were Ayodele Oke, Kayode Are, and Aminu Dalhatu.
Bayelsa West Senator Dickson, who is the Vice Chairman of, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he was curious to know how Oke’s corruption case with the Nigerian authorities ended.
The lawmaker maintained that the Senate owes the country a duty to throw some relevant questions at the nominees to clear the air on certain developments.
“I asked Oke, pointedly, to clear the air on the controversies leading to his exit from office[as NIA DG. In his answers, Ambassador Oke…explained the issues leading to his departure from office and furnished us with a copy of a court order affirming his acquittal, following the withdrawal of the case against him,” Dickson wrote on X.
“This confirms the view I have long held: that since its formation, the APC has always played politics with serious national issues such as corruption, terrorism, and the economy. They politicised and ethnicised the Boko Haram and terrorism challenges, which have escalated over the years under their watch, even with a President from the North.
“They played politics with the attempt at reduction of fuel subsidy, but have now turned around to impose a harsher version of total subsidy removal, which has plunged Nigerians into poverty. And they played a one-sided anti-corruption crusade targeting and criminalising opposition leaders.
“After listening to Mr Oke’s explanation, I do not doubt that he was a victim of the APC’s misguided vendetta to criminalise the PDP and its leadership, just as they did to Sambo Dasuki, former NSA.
“No one is against a well-structured and systematic, apolitical fight against corruption, which is a major national issue, but it must not target selected individuals or the opposition. It must be fought across the board, as all are equal before the law.
“The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), as well as other security and intelligence institutions, must be handled with greater respect and discretion, even when issues of misconduct arise.
“These are strategic tools in the hands of the President and the nation, and must be jealously protected and guarded, irrespective of political or other considerations, in order not to compromise the security architecture of the country.
“Once an assignment, order, or objective is approved by a sitting President acting within his powers, and the order is not unlawful, the intelligence chief must be protected, even if we disagree with that order as politicians.
“Following Mr Oke’s explanation and the withdrawal of the case by the EFCC, which should not have started in the first place, I voted to clear Mr Oke, and I congratulate him. I also voted at the Committee to clear the two other ambassadorial nominees — Kayode Are and Aminu Dalhatu — who are very experienced and eminently qualified Nigerians.”
