Reuters/Abuja: Former Nigerian military ruler Ibrahim Babangida’s election campaign team yesterday accused the authorities of a political witch hunt after its director was held for questioning over bomb blasts in the capital Abuja.
Raymond Dokpesi, the director of Babangida’s campaign for 2011 presidential elections, was questioned by the secret service on Monday after last Friday’s car bombs near a parade to mark Nigeria’s 50th anniversary of independence.
The investigation into the blasts, which killed at least 10 people and injured scores more, risks becoming a divisive issue ahead of presidential elections next year in which President Goodluck Jonathan and Babangida are so far the two main rivals.
“We believe this is a political witch hunt. The government of the day is becoming intolerant of the opposition viewpoint,” said Babangida’s campaign spokesman Kassim Afegbua.
Dokpesi was released without charge on Monday night on administrative bail, meaning he could be recalled for further questioning by the State Security Service (SSS), officials said.
The attacks were claimed by the Movement of the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), the main militant group in the nation’s southern oil heartland, but Jonathan - who is from the region - has said the group’s name was used as a cover.
State television said late on Monday Dokpesi had been held for questioning over text messages found on the phone of a main suspect in the bombings, which referred to a monetary payment.
“Since Mend has owned up, we find it very curious that the government is chasing other avenues,” Afegbua said, adding Dokpesi had told the secret service he did not know Okah.
The presidential election in Africa’s most populous nation had been due in January but has been pushed back to April, ostensibly to give electoral authorities more time to prepare.
It was already shaping up to be the most fiercely contested since the end of military rule a decade ago, with no consensus candidate in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and division over whether the nominee should be from north or south.
The debate hinges on an unwritten pact in the ruling party that power rotates between the main regions every two terms.
Jonathan, a southerner, inherited the presidency when northerner Umaru Yar’Adua died this year part way through his first term. His backers say he was elected on a joint ticket and can complete the second term but his opponents, including northerner Babangida, say the agreement must stand.
The apparent suspicion that Babangida’s camp could be involved in the Abuja bombs has raised the political stakes.
“A high-profile attack of any kind in the capital plays into the hands of Jonathan’s opponents in the race for the (ruling party) nomination for obvious reasons, namely because it makes the president look weak,” intelligence firm Stratfor said.
“A high-profile Mend attack, however, is even better for his opponents, as the militant group hails from Jonathan’s own region,” it said in a research note.
Mend’s claim of responsibility was an embarrassment for Jonathan, who was one of the main architects of an amnesty agreed last year with rebels in the Niger Delta and who is the first Nigerian leader to come from the vast wetlands region.
Jonathan has said the attacks had nothing to do with the Niger Delta. He has blamed a “small terrorist group that resides outside Nigeria” and said that it was sponsored by “unpatriotic elements within the country”.