Fury in S’East over arrest, detention of Iwu by EFCC
* Kanu’s lawyer says fictitious charges against former INEC boss can’t stand
By Steve Oko
The arrest and detention of former National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Maurice Iwu, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been greeted with rage in South East.
There has been public condemnation of Iwu ‘s arrest which many see as politically motivated and unnecessary intimidation of the former INEC boss by the presidency using the anti -graft agency.
Reacting on the development, Mr. Aloy Ejimakor, a rights activist and lawyer to the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, said Iwu’s arrest and detention smacked of using state machinery to intimidate a perceived political opponent.
He wondered why charged would be trumped up against Iwu in connection with donations allegedly received as a result of his scientific breakthrough.
Ejimajor tweeted in his verifiable tweeter handle :
“Bioresources Institute was founded by Prof Iwu long before he returned from the US to become Chairman of INEC. The Institute is globally respected and is a recipient of myriad donations. How can Iwu be now laundering donations received by the Institute as far back as 2014/2015?
“It strains credulity that a whole 9years after Prof Iwu left office as Chairman of INEC, they pivoted on DONATIONS received by his world-acclaimed Research Institute to accuse him of laundering money in 2014. Could it be that this is more about his perceived closeness to Atiku?”
The lawyer further put a poser “Maurice Iwu is charged for LAUNDERING N1.2bn as INEC Chairman’. The ‘Money LAUNDERING Act’ was passed in 2011, 1 year after Iwu left office in 2010. Constitution prohibits charges based on ex-post facto laws. Iwu (a strong Igbo) is being PERSECUTED and it cannot stand.”
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