The Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, has denied reports attributed to the party’s leadership asking former President Goodluck Jonathan to speak up on the $2.1 billion arms deal scandal.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is presently prosecuting no fewer than 12 PDP chieftains, including the immediate past National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki for their alleged role in the diversion of the money meant for arms procurement under the Jonathan administration.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, the party’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Abdullahi Jalo, called on the ex-president to speak up in response to the claims by Dasuki that the money was shared on his directives.
But speaking at the party’s constitution amendment forum in Abuja on Tuesday, Secondus said Jalo spoke for himself and that his views did not represent the position of the PDP leadership.
“Let me make it clear to you that Jalo was only expressing his personal opinion because his views did not represent the position of the party.
“There was no time we discussed at the National Executive Committee (NEC) that Jonathan should speak on the arms deal scandal. There was no time such a thing came up at the NEC. So Jalo must be expressing his personal opinion”, Secondus said.
The acting PDP national chairman also decried the prolonged detention of the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh and other party chieftains by the EFCC.
Metuh reportedly confessed in a statement written at the EFCC head office in Abuja that he collected N400 million of the arms cash from Dasuki and was also reported to have collected various sums, which added up to N1.4 billion through Destra Investment Limited, a company in which he holds a substantial stake.
Secondus, however, urged the anti-graft commission to release the PDP spokesman immediately, saying his continued detention was against the rule of law and a breach of his fundamental human right.
