EFCC arrests Omisore

OPERATIVES of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Sunday, arrested a former deputy governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

Omisore, who was declared wanted by the anti-corruption agency, in connection with a case of receiving the sum of over N700 million from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) between June and November, 2014, the Nigerian Tribune gathered, was arrested Sunday morning by the operatives, who were at his Abuja residence.

Former chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation in the sixth Senate, had been having a running battle with the EFCC over his being declared wanted by the commission, saying that the declaration was illegal.

Omisore, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) standard-bearer in the August 2014 governorship election in Osun State, had approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, to resist being arrested by the anti-graft agency. He also threatened to sue the anti-graft agency for N500 million damages for defamation.

While declaring him wanted in May, EFCC had stated that it had, on April 7, extended an invitation to Omisore, who was in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly between 2003 and 2011, asking him “to come and make clarification on the ongoing investigation.”

It added that the PDP chieftain in Osun State had remained elusive and refused to report to the commission but instead headed for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights.

EFCC further stated that the presiding judge in the suit, Justice Husseini Baba Yusuf, ordered that the former lawmaker should only be arrested through a due and legal process.

The commission then informed that it had obtained a warrant to effect the arrest of the politician.

Efforts to confirm Omisore’s arrest from the Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, as of the time of filing this report failed, but a source in the commission confirmed the arrest.

“It is true our operatives effected his arrest this morning in Abuja. We have a valid court warrant to arrest him after we have had invited him to come and explain certain things to us,” the source, who pleaded not to be named, told the Nigerian Tribune.

It was, however, not certain if the politician would be granted an administrative bail, as he was reported to be with the commission in Abuja as of the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of PDP, on Sunday, said the anti-corruption efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari would continue to be a ruse, inasmuch as many corrupt people within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are not exposed.

The party argued that the ruling APC, at present, have in its fold, some of the most corrupt individuals that other parties, including PDP, found rather too dirty to be accommodated, and yet they were being covered with the party’s blanket.

In a statement in Osogbo, the party’s spokesperson, Diran Odeyemi, stressed that “today, Buhari is keeping Femi Fani-Kayode, Esther Nenadi Usman in prison, Olisa Metuh almost lost his life in detention, Fayose, Omisore, are being trailed and despite huge evidences of graft against many serving governors elected on APC’s platform and many ministers and other political appointees of Buhari, the corruption ‘fighters’ would rather not touch them.

“Many petitions detailing sleaze ongoing in Osun State in the last five and a half years are unattended to at EFCC’s office.

“We implore Mr President to re-examine his anti-corruption fight and make it total, instead of the targeted attacks on PDP members to permanently silence opposition voices in the country.”