Nigeria’s former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has described as irresponsible and cheap politics the statement credited to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and signed on its behalf by one Yekini Nabena in which it tried to link him with a cyber-crime suspect, Ramon Abbas who was recently arrested in the United Arab Emirates and extradited to the United States.
Saraki in a statement issued in Abuja today stated that he has no form of association with the said suspect, Ramon Abbas otherwise known as Hushpuppi and neither does he know him in any way.
“The statement credited to the APC, the ruling party in our country, is one of the ways by which our anti-graft agencies are weakened and why the fight against corruption in the country is often viewed with suspicion by the international community.
This is because when these cyber-crime suspects were operating freely and openly displaying wealth, the APC saw nothing bad in their activities. Also, the party at that time did not deem it necessary to call on the anti-graft agencies to investigate their activities.
“Also, since the arrest of those cyber crime suspects and the subsequent damage to the image and the economy of Nigeria as well as the crisis it created for Nigerians engaged in lawful businesses across the world, the ruling party had been muted.
“The only time the APC deemed it necessary to make a statement was when it thought it should play dirty, cheap and irresponsible politics, Saraki stated.
The former Senate President had on July 1 publicly reacted to the recent arrest alleged internet fraudster in an Op-Ed article published in a Nigerian Newspaper, Daily Trust, titled “Cyber Criminals: Confronting The Few Who Dent Many”.
Dr. Saraki had in the article, strongly condemned the activities of cyber criminals and called on the law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to make decisive interventions to checkmate their activities.
According to the media aide of the ex-Senate President, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki enlisted a research institution, the Politeia Institute, whose board he chairs to commence a research on the best ways to tackle the menace.
Olaniyonu, while carpeting the APC, described Saraki’s intervention as noble.
“Such a noble intervention in tackling a menace is what Dr. Saraki believes in, not mudslinging and playing politics at the expense of the nation’s image. At this point, we call on the APC leadership to rein in the so-called Yekini Nabena and compel him to desist from making and circulating such malicious, odious and offensive claims”, he said.
