Fani-Kayode Raises the Alarm over EFCC Threat to Rearrest Him

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Former Minister of Aviation and ex-spokesman of President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign council in 2015, Femi Fani-Kayode, has again raised fears of his imminent re-arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In a statement issued yesterday, Fani-Kayode said the EFCC was planning to arrest him probably at the premises of the Federal High Court in Lagos after he appeared there on October 21 in pursuance of his court case.

“I have been reliably informed by my sources within the EFCC that they are planning to re-arrest and detain me again for as long as possible even though I have been granted bail by the Federal High Court in Lagos,” he said.

Also, in another statement issued by Fani-Kayode’s Special Assistant on media, Jude Ndukwe, he took a swipe at the position taken by former spokesman of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), Rotimi Fashakin, describing it as “nothing but a product of masturbatory ejaculation emanating from his frustration of an unfulfilled desire and life-long fantasy of being in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government but was understood to be ignored by the president.”

Fani-Kayode’s statement reads: “Fresh charges were filed against me by the EFCC at the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 7. These charges border on baseless and false claims that I received N26 million from the NSA’s office in 2014. These are politically-motivated charges and there is no truth in or substance to them whatsoever.

“The case has been assigned to a judge and the date for arraignment has been set for November 10 before Justice Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Abuja. My lawyers were in court for the original date of arraignment on October 14 but for some curious reasons the EFCC did not show up on that day.

“The matter was therefore adjourned till November 10 and my lawyers have given an undertaking to the judge to ensure that I am in court on that day. They have also written to the EFCC to that effect and our letter was acknowledged by them.

“Yet the EFCC is still planning to arrest me probably at the premises of the Federal High Court in Lagos if I appear there on October 21 to attend my trial on the trumped up and politically-motivated charges concerning the presidential campaign funds.

“If they do arrest me then they seek to detain me for as long as possible. Whichever way, they will come and I am ready for them. I am not running.

“The truth is that the EFCC is a ready, willing and able tool in the hands of the hawks and hardliners in the Buhari administration and they are apparently acting on orders. They are desperate to keep me out of circulation and off the streets and I have been reliably informed that they were ordered to ensure that that is the case by the presidency.

“That is their stock in trade and they will feed the media with all manner of garbage knowing that I am not there to defend myself, to set the record straight or to expose their fabrications.

“That is their way. That is their style. They will say and do anything to demonise, humiliate, destroy, convict me on the pages of newspapers and detain indefinitely (with the aid of questionable detention orders from equally questionable magistrates and judges) those that they hate and all their perceived enemies.”

According to him, “I urge all those who believe in me, read my essays, follow my posts and share my vision and views to stay strong, to keep the flag flying, to fight a good fight and to never give up or falter despite the tyranny that we face and the fascists that we are confronted with.

“They may have today but tomorrow belongs to us. In the end our God will rise up in His power and in His might and He will rid us of this evil and this terrible and accursed affliction.

“In the end, despite all their lies, falsehood, misrepresentation, malevolence, malice and vicious persecution, we shall prevail because our God is mighty. Therefore stand tall, stand strong and have no fear. For though the night may be dark, joy comes in the morning.”