Could it be the demons in Aso Presidential Villa at work?

It is not clear why the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arrested and detained former spokesperson of immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan. He is still in detention.

News of the arrest went viral Monday afternoon.

While Punch reports that it did not know the reason for the arrest, Sahara Reporters says his arrest was in connection with the receipt of N50 million from the Dasuki arms procurement fund which the Federal Government has been probing since shortly after President Buhari’s assumption of office.

Sambo Dasuki is the immediate past National Security Adviser, under whose watch $2.1billion for procurement of arms with which to fight Boko Haram was shared to politicians and friends of the government. EFCC has been on the matter since last year.

Abati, a former populist columnist with The Guardian newspaper lost a large chunk of his following after accepting to serve under the Jonathan government as presidential spokesperson. That decision ultimately thinned his stock as the government grew increasingly unpopular in the face of evident incompetence, countless allegations of corruption and failure to contain activities of terror group Boko Haram which kidnapped school girls in the North East town of Chibok in Borno State. The group killed over 20,000 people and displaced at least 2.3million from their homes.

Upon rejection of Jonathan at the presidential polls in March 2015, Abati returned to writing a weekly column, but with a decision to never criticize government.

He wrote a recent essay wherein he blamed most of the woeful decisions taken by his principal on demons that reside in the Presidential Villa, narrating stories that supported his belief. He blamed demons for the relatives of the president who died, he also blamed them for making the populace receive badly well thought out decisions by the government. He said it was not just the government he served that was a victim, he equally blamed President Buhari’s now waning goodwill on the same evil forces in the Villa.

Abati’s arrest is the latest in the crackdown of many prominent members of the society by the EFCC in its heightened fight against corruption. Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has insisted that the fight is one sided. It has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government was out to silence opposition.