EFCC, APC godfathers at war over me –Omisore

From Iheanacho Nwosu, Abuja

FORMER chairman, Senate Com­mittee on Appropriation and Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP) gov­ernorship candidate in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore yesterday claimed that operatives of the Eco­nomic and Financial Crimes Com­mission (EFCC) are split over the allegation of graft against him.

Omisore is alleged to have col­lected N1.3 billion from the office of the former National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd). He is currently in court with the EFCC over the matter.

In a statement yesterday, the for­mer Osun State deputy governor and PDP governorship candidate in Osun in the last election, said: “EFCC operatives are in disagree­ment with their political APC god­fathers. That is one of the reasons for dodging court summons as I ex­posed on AIT on Thursday. Nigeri­ans are hereby alerted by the killer democracy, abuse of human rights and utter disrespect for the rule of law by the Buhari administration on illegal arrests, backdoor deten­tion warrants and tyranny! I want to assure Nigerians, especially suf­fering Osun masses that I won’t abandon them even in the face of persecution! I didn’t take money from Dasuki! Let my peace be! Go search for crooks, election riggers and government money embez­zlers in your party.”

He insisted that he did not stash a whopping sum of N1.3 billion, being money collected from the Office of the National Security Ad­viser, ONSA, in his bank account, dismissing the rumours making rounds as sheer blackmail.

He claimed that the anti-graft body had been using falsehood to harass him, stressing that was evident in the way the latter had said he at one time took N700m and later changed the figure to N1.3billion.

The PDP chieftain accused the EFCC of dodging court summons in the suit he filed against it, an in­dication, he said, that the body was not bold enough to stand up to its claims.

Omisore said: “EFCC won’t stop at any height to blackmail the op­position. My AIT (African Inde­pendent Television) programme has attracted another falsehood to harass me! Only yesterday morn­ing, I accused EFCC of dodging court summons! I didn’t collect any money from ONSA. I have not had any dealings with the ONSA. Last time, it was N700 million, to­day it’s N1.3billion.”