Embattled ex-senator, comrade Shehu Sani, has accused the Nigerian government of attempting to silence him over his criticism of the administration led by the President, Muhammadu Buhari, using fronts.
Sani alleged that the government is using his accuser, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to “frame” him up in the extortion allegations.
There has been an ongoing probe of the former Kaduna central district senator for alleged extortion of $20,000 from the Chairman of ASD Motors, Alhaji Sani Dauda.
In his petition to the EFCC, Alhaji Dauda also claimed that the former senator demanded N4m from him to give to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, and four other judges to influence some pending cases in court.
Sani, a fiery critic of the government, who has consistently maintained his innocence, according to Punch, spoke from the EFCC detention for the first time on the matter, via WhatsApp, as follows:
“The allegations of ‘extortion’ against me are baseless, fact-less, unfounded, hollow and unsubstantial.
“It is a scripted stream of mischievous concoctions and utter fabrications using a puppet state agent; all aimed at splashing faeces and mud on me.
“The extortion allegation is nothing but a wholesale falsehood, packaged in a phantom anti-graft facade to taint, stain and mute me. That shall never happen if I am alive.
“I have made my statement and provided all my facts against their package of lies and I demand the EFCC to make public all the sheets of our statements and supporting documents for the world to see.
“My detention is unfair, unjust, prearranged and politically motivated.”
He also said, “Alhaji Sani Dauda and his hidden sponsors have not been able to provide any proof of their allegations. I’m unjustly incarcerated on the grounds of an arranged two-page petition backed with no evidential or documentary proof.
“Fascism thrives in frame up of its critics.
“They claim extortion and here they are closing my bank accounts, searching my houses and offices and demanding I declare my assets, of which I have already done that at the CCB (Code of Conduct Bureau) last year when I left the Senate.
“Frame-up cannot silence me!”
The senator further said, “I have never ever met with the CJN or any judge or judges or ever called directly or indirectly to offer to give or to give directly or indirectly any form of gratification from Alhaji Sani Dauda.
“I have never ever discussed with ASD on any form of bribe or gratification to be given to any judge or any EFCC official.
“The bribe story is phantom, the bribe story is a fake, imaginative work of fiction, cruelly crafted to smear me, to frame me and to justify my persecution.
“The bribe story is a heap of blatant lies and outright falsehood concocted and fabricated, using a front and the EFCC to premiere a state drama.
“ASD is a barely educated front for a state mission.
“Criminalising me or ‘framing me’ will not silence me, bend me or compromise me.”