The Department of State Services, DSS, has reportedly arrested the Senator representing Abia South senatorial district in the Senate, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe.
ENYINNAYA Abaribe, the senator representing South Senatorial District, Abia State, in the National Assembly, has been arrested by the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS).
His party, Peoples Democratic Party PDP confirmed his arrest in a tweet hours ago.
“The Gestapo-style arrest of Abaribe has further confirmed our earlier alarm that the @APCNigeria-led FG has commenced a total clampdown on the opposition and perceived opponents of President @MBuhari’s 2019 re-election bid,” PDP tweeted.
The SSS could not be reached to confirm the arrest because the Service is yet to appoint a spokesperson.
Abaribe was arrested in Transcorp Hotel in the Maitama District of Abuja, a source revealed. The senator has been critical of President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling party, APC in the recent times.
The senator, who is also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, had recently alleged that N30 billion was smuggled into the power budget without his committee’s knowledge.
Reports said Senator Abaribe was arrested in Abuja on Friday at a popular hotel located at Maitama District.
However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) via a statement, Friday, lamented that the ”Gestapo-style arrest of Abaribe has further confirmed the earlier alarm that the APC-led Federal Government has commenced a total clampdown on the opposition and perceived opponents of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 re-election bid”.
It said the clampdown on Mr Abaribe is in furtherance of the moves to ”intimidate and emasculate members of the National Assembly who are known for their outspokenness against the constitutional violations and misrule of the APC administration”.
The statement reads in part:
”The PDP notes that the Federal Government has given no reasons for the arrest and detention of Senator Abaribe, who has been kept incommunicado without access to his lawyers and associates.
”The party also notes the apprehension of Nigerians following numerous alleged plots by the Federal Government to frame up other lawmakers, including Senate President Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremmadu, as well as Senators Dino Melaye and Shehu Sani.
”Nigerians can now see that our dear nation is fast descending into a fascist state where constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech no longer obtains and citizens are marked, arrested and detained on the whims and caprices of those in power.
”The PDP charges the DSS to immediately declare Senator Abaribe’s whereabouts, as well as the charge against him. Moreover, the laws of our nation are clear on the process of arrest and prosecution of any citizen and not recourse to clampdown and intimidation.”
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