Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), has given an insight on why he was quizzed by operatives of the
Department of State Services (DSS). TheCable on Friday reported that he was en
route to Nigeria after visiting his indisposed wife, Iara, in the US, and
subsequently meeting Bola Tinubu, APC national leader, in the UK.
The APC chairman travelled out of the country after he was
interrogated by the DSS over allegations of collecting bribe during his party’s
primary elections.
Speaking during an interaction with editors in Lagos on
Saturday, Oshiomhole said he “saw DSS only once and it was a conversation, not
an arrest or detention”. He said: “The conversation centred around APC
primaries. The question now is whether or not it is the DSS job to interfere in
a political party’s issues. And if there’s an allegation of corruption, it is
the responsibility of EFCC and ICPC.” The former governor of Edo noted that the
DSS did not ask him to return the next day, contrary to media reports.
Oshiomhole said he was billed to travel abroad on Monday but
postponed the trip for a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. He said he
eventually left the country on Tuesday.
Furthermore, the APC chairman said he was not released on
administrative bail, adding that Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi, did not come
to pick him up from the DSS office.
He said: “I was the one who called Yahaya Bello and he came
but I drove home in my own car.” Oshiomhole lashed out at the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) for calling on Interpol to arrest him, and for
insinuating that he had fled the country over the matter.
He said: “What would they have said if it was the PDP
chairman that was invited by DSS, for instance over the dollar bazaar at their
Port Harcourt primary? “They would have said democracy is under threat and
would have fired a letter to the UN as they often ridicule themselves.” The
former labour leader alleged that “a few important members of APC may be
conniving with PDP because they preferred the impunity of the PDP era”.
