BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – Minority Leader of the Nigerian Senate, Enyinaya Abaribe, says given the same conditions he will not backtrack on suretying the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu.
Senator Abaribe said his decision to stand surety for Kanu was based on the condition imposed by the court that ordered one of the sureties must be a Senator.
According to him, as the Chairman of the Southeast Senators Caucus then, it was expedient to offer himself as the surety, adding that given the circumstances, he would not hesitate to make the same decision again concerning Kanu.
Abaribe, who spoke on TVC’s current affairs programme, Journalists Hangout, however, claimed that he does not know whether Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the Chairman of Southeast Caucus, would agree to stand as sure for Kanu should the need arise.
The lawmaker further said; “He’s our son. He’s from our state (Abia). He (Kanu) said it himself that he ran for his dear life. There is a difference between jumping bail and escaping for your life.
“I went back to court and deposed that on the basis of the principle of ‘last seen’, that the last people seen with him were soldiers of the Nigerian army who were invading his father’s residence.
“The judge ultimately ruled that she was revoking bail and issued a warrant of arrest, thereby removing us from the responsibility of providing him. A lot of people did not understand.”
On what went through his mind after the detained IPOB leader jumped bail, Senator Abaribe claimed there was no feeling of betrayal that Kanu left the country, insisting that he ran for his dear life given the situation of things that period.
The former Deputy Governor of Abia State also used the occasion to berate his colleagues in the upper legislative chamber for voting against the electronic transmission of elections’ results.
He said the APC Senators’ position is “antithetical” to the constitutional provision on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s independence, adding that their resistance to the electronic transmission of results was because they were afraid of defeat in the next general elections come 2023.
In voting against the clause last Thursday, most APC Senators maintained that INEC must obtain the clearance of Nigerian Communications Communication (NCC) and the National Assembly (NASS) before embarking on electronic transmission of elections’ results.
“Certain interests were being protected by those who felt that electronic transmission of results and openness and transparency are not what they would like”, Abaribe said
Senator Abaribe, who urged the Federal Government to work hard on ensuring no section of the country feels alienated from the centre, expressed confidence that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to capture power by winning the 2023 presidential election.
He said having failed to keep all the promises it made to Nigerians, the APC “is very jittery” and the PDP is set for victory come 2023, adding; “We are going to win. The problem of the APC will start in September. When the problems start coming, it will be very clear. Let’s not be worried about what is happening now.”
The Senator, who claimed that the APC is deploying federal might to intimidate PDP members to join the ruling party, said he would never defect to the APC, even as he described as pathetic the recent defection of Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawelle from PDP to APC.
Vowing he will never leave the PDP even if he was the last man standing, the lawmaker said; “This is because I don’t see what I can gain from the APC. For some of us who have built our reputation based on truth and integrity, there are things we cannot do.”
