President Buhari jailed me for 18 months in 1984 because I was rich – Anenih

Former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, has revealed that President Buhari jailed him for 18 months in 1984, for being wealthy.

According to Punch, Anenih said he was sent to prison between March 1984 and August 1985 when Buhari was a military dictator.

Anenih said “The military regime of General Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon threw me into detention for 18 months on the basis of an anonymous petition that as a prominent and wealthy politician and leader of the NPN in Bendel State, the military administrator would not find his footing unless I was removed from the scene.

“I was sent to Kirikiri Prisons where I spent three months before I was transferred to Ikoyi Prisons.”

He also said he did not commit any crime, adding that his offence was that he was a popular and wealthy politician.

Further narrating his ordeal in prison custody, Anenih said “We were transferred to Ikoyi Prisons because of the riot that took place while we were there. The condemned prisoners whose death warrants had earlier been signed by Alhaji Lateef Jakande when he was governor of Lagos State, broke loose on sighting him as one of the detainees.

“They broke out of their cells and headed towards the building where Jakande and the rest of us detainees were kept. As the prisoners were attempting to force the iron door open, mobile police were called in to quell the riot.”

Adding that “Where we were staying, the bucket latrines or toilets had opening to the rooms. These buckets were emptied maybe once a week from behind, and if for any reason the buckets were not emptied once a week as the rule, you lived with the stench.

“At night, cockroaches, rats and lizards passed through these holes housing the bucket latrines into our cells after crawling on the buckets to disturb us. So, you could really not sleep for one hour without getting cockroaches perch on you.”

Anenih made this revelation in Abuja on Sunday, November 27, 2016, during the launch of his book titled: My Life and Nigerian Politics.

He served as the minister of works and housing during former President Olusegun Obasanjo tenure from 1999 to 2002.

Anenih made this revelation in Abuja, during the launch of his book titled: My Life and Nigerian Politics.