The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has received a “top directives” to poison its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh while in detention.

The EFCC had yesterday taken Metuh into custody for questioning on matters that are yet to be made public by the commission.

In a statement by the party’s National Secretary, Wale Oladipo, Metuh’s detention was described as an attempt by the All Progressives Congress, APC, led Federal Government to silence the opposition and pave the way for a one-party dictatorship.

The statement said, “The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demands an immediate release of the party’s national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, who was Tuesday morning invited and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC.

“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.

“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.

PDP, while stating that the development was not a surprise given series of threats Metuh has received from the APC and the Federal Government, stressed that the current government was obviously not comfortable with its stance on the confused state of the nation under their watch.

The party maintained that for whatever reason Metuh was arrested for, 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 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,” PDP said.