Following the arrest of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) , Chief Olisa Metuh, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the party's national leadership has demanded his immediate release.This was contained in a statement by Prof. Adewale Oladipo, the National Secretary of the party.

Read statement below:

This development, which did not come to us as a surprise given series of threats to our party’s spokesman by the APC and the Federal Government, who are obviously not comfortable with our stance on the confused state of the nation under their watch, is a continuation of APC’s grand design to silence and decimate the PDP.

The arrest of Chief Metuh today underscores the growing political intolerance in our country and the foisting of a police state which was last Wednesday underscored by the President and Commander-in-Chief himself, who defended why a government in a democracy should flout constitutional provision and brazenly disobey court orders.

This onslaught against our spokesman, according to intelligence available to us is part of a larger script by the government to ensure that PDP wings are finally clipped in their mission to install a dictatorial one-party state in the country.

The excesses of security agencies under this government, especially the Directorate of Security Services (DSS) and the EFCC, in abridging the human rights of PDP members have become worrisome and a threat to our democratic evolution.

Nigerians and the international community will recall that on a number of occasions, the PDP, through its spokesman has been outspoken on some undemocratic proclivities being exhibited by the APC-led Federal Government in the last seven months.

The PDP insists that for whatever reason Chief Metuh was arrested, his rights as a citizen under the law must not be trampled upon. We therefore demand for his immediate release and that due process of investigation and prosecution concerning him should be strictly adhered to.

We state this because we have been made aware of top directives to break Chief Metuh and if possible poison him during his detention by the EFCC. Chief Metuh, has since his arrest at about 10 am, has been kept incommunicado, with his lawyers denied access to him.

The PDP declares the arrest of our spokesman as the last straw that may break our democracy. We therefore forewarn the Federal Government and its agencies to save our democracy and forthwith release our National Publicity Secretary.

We are also calling on the international community and well-meaning Nigerians to stand up for this democracy, which our party nurtured for 16 years and deepened to a level where the opposition, for the first time in our political history, had the opportunity to win in a general election.



http://dawntodusknews.com/nigerias-democracy-may-break-with-the-arrest-of-olisa-metuh-pdp/

A Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Samuel Aniebonam has been appointed Chairman of Biafra Independent National Electoral Commission(B-INEC). Announcing Aniebonam's appointment, the leader of Biafra Independence Movement(BIM), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike at Ojukwu Memorial Library, Owerri, Imo State, said it is in line with BIM’s principle of non-violence towards establishing a sovereign control over the territorial borders of the new Biafra. In a statement made available to Vanguard, the newly-promoted Biafra Director of Information, Chris Mocha, Uwazuruike noted that Fr. Aniebonam and his team of other members of B-INEC would conduct and supervise the internal election in all the offices of BIM on 22nd February 2016.




http://dawntodusknews.com/catholic-priest-emerges-biafra-inec-chairman-as-biafra-plans-elections/

By JUMI RHODES

The Managing Director/ Chief Executive of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC),Mr. Umaru Ibrahim has been re-appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari for another tenure of 5 years. Ibrahim, who was appointed by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, completed his first term tenure of 5 years as the MD of NDIC on Tuesday, 8th December 2015. He received a re-appointment letter on Thursday, 31st December 2015, and resumed office on Monday, 4th January 2016. The Kano-born bureacrat will till 2021 lead NDIC,an independent agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The purpose of the deposit insurance system is to protect depositors and guarantee the settlement of insured funds when a deposit-taking financial institution can no longer repay their deposits, thereby helping to maintain financial system stability.


http://dawntodusknews.com/president-buhari-re-appoints-goodluck-jonathans-appointee-for-another-5-year-tenure/