The Senate
has mandated its committee on anti-corruption and financial crimes to
investigate circumstances surrounding the arrest of the Managing Direc
tor of
Innoson Motors, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, and report back today.
The chamber
roundly condemned Chukwuma’s ordeal at the hands of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), urging President Muhammadu Buhari to call the
commission’s acting chairman to order.
Senate
President Bukola Saraki, in his final intervention, deplored the action,
saying: “This does not speak well for the country. How a private transaction
has become the business of the EFCC is what I do not know. I have not seen the
FBI intervene between people involved in a transaction. We are just making a
mockery of the institution.”
The Chukwuka
Utazi-led anti-corruption committee was also asked to investigate an allegation
that an EFCC operative slapped the wife of Chukwuma during a raid on his house
in Enugu.
Chukwuma was
arrested on Tuesday over alleged refusal to repay a loan to Guaranty Trust
Bank.
The Deputy
Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who brought the matter to the floor had raised
Order 42 of the Standing Rules, telling his colleagues the arrest was a
national disgrace and an abuse of fundamental human rights. According to him,
“The detention of Innocent Chukwuma is purely a civil matter.”
Chukwuma,
however, has denied jumping an administrative bail granted to him by the EFCC,
even as he urged the commission to allow a logical conclusion in the court
processes between him and the GTB.
He was
yesterday afternoon moved to Lagos, after spending a night at the commission’s
cell in Enugu.
Sources said
he flew in an Arik flight, dressed in shorts and T-shirt and accompanied by
officials of the anti-graft agency.
In a
statement by Mr. Cornel Osigwe, head of corporate communications, Innoson
Group, Chukwuma denied mobilising thugs to manhandle EFCC operatives during his
arrest.
Describing
his purported invitation by the commission as false, he said that as a
law-abiding citizen, a public figure, and a well-known industrialist of
international repute, it was unthinkable he would ignore an invitation from the
commission or any established agency of government.
“Dr.
Chukwuma has never had any issue or query from the EFCC recently. The last
issue he had with EFCC was an invitation extended to him in 2012, based on a
complaint against him by GTB, and which he duly honoured.”
Meanwhile,
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC) and
Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) have condemned the arrest in separate
statements in Enugu, with OYC threatening to withdraw its investments in GTB
and organise massive protests to press for the unconditional release of
Chukwuma.
“If Innoson
Motors was owned by an Hausa Fulani man, he would have been revered and
idolised to high heavens. But because it is a business owned and run by a
Biafran, and equally sited in Biafra land, it must be destroyed,” said IPOB.
In another
development, the Senate yesterday rejected a plan by the presidency to sell
some key national assets including the Tafawa Balewa Square and the National
Theatre to finance the 2018 budget.
A swift
reaction to stand down the sale was sequel to an adopted motion sponsored by
Senator Fatimat Raji-Rasaki (Ekiti Central).
Yesterday,
placard-carrying workers at the theatre embarked on a peaceful demonstration
against the sale.
Dayo Akogun,
branch chairman of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service,
Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), condemned the move,
joined by Mr. Dare Durosimi, Lagos State chairman of the Radio, Television,
Theatre and Arts Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), founder of the Royal Star
Entertainment Production (ROSEP), Alagba Femi Tade, and others.
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