| Ike Ekweremadu |
By Henry Umoru, Dapo Akinrefon & Levinus Nwabughiogu
ABUJA —
BARELY 24 hours after the arraignment of Senate President, Bukola
Saraki; his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, and others for alleged
forgery of 2015 Senate Standing Rules in an Abuja High Court, Ekweremadu
has taken his case outside the shores of Nigeria.
He
called for intervention of the United Nations, Us Congress, United
Kingdom, European Union Parliament and foreign missions, saying a
powerful institution as the National Assembly was being ridiculed and
rubbished by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government. But the Presidency
in a swift reaction, said it would not bandy words with the Deputy
Senate President.
Also,
the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice said it would not comment on the matter since it was in court.
Ekweremadu,
who noted that the nation’s democracy was in grave danger, said their
trial for forgery of Senate Standard Rules was an attempt to truncate
Nigeria’s democracy and silence him as the leader and highest ranking
member of the opposition party in the country.
The letter
In the
two-page letter, entitled: “Re: Trumped Up Charges Against the Presiding
Officers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy is in Grave Danger,”
Ekweremadu, who attached copies of the court summons, and other relevant
documents relating to the matter, is asking the international community
to decide whether or not the trial was worth it, justifiable or one
that was purely borne out of political vendetta.
Ekweremadu
noted that neither his name nor that of the President of the Senate
featured either in the petition by aggrieved members of the Senate Unity
Forum, SUF, or during the investigation of the petition by the police.
The
letter read: “You may further wish to judge for yourself whether this
unfolding scenario, coupled with the clampdown on the opposition, such
as targeted arrests and indefinite detention of opposition figures and
dissenting voices, in spite of court pronouncements and in clear
violation of the Nigerian constitution, as well as the sustained
marginalization of the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones of
Nigeria, does not constitute a grave danger to the nation’s hard-won
democracy.
“I wish
to forward to you the court summons containing the trumped-up charges
preferred against my person, the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola
Saraki, CON; and two others.
“I also
wish to appeal to you to kindly find time to read through the annexures—
petition by members of the Senate Unity Forum, statements by persons
interrogated, and the police report— to see if our names appeared
anywhere in these documents.
Judge for yourself
“You
may, thereafter, judge for yourself whether the Federal Government,
acting through the Attorney-General of the Federation, has any
justification whatsoever to generate our names for trial. The list of
the accused persons appears to have been politically generated because
you cannot by the documents attached, relate any of our names to the
offence for which we are now being charged.
“Moreover,
the rules and principles of fair-hearing have not been adhered to
because the police have not interacted with me or the President of the
Senate as at the time of writing this letter.
“You may
also wish to judge for yourself whether this trial orchestrated against
me is not a political trial, calculated witch-hunt, barefaced
intimidation, and a clear attempt to emasculate the parliament and
silence me as the leader and highest ranking member of the opposition in
Nigeria.
“Meanwhile,
it could also be recalled that an attempt was made on my life on
November 17, 2015. The Nigerian security agencies did nothing, even
though the incident was duly reported.’’
Witnessing against Saraki has nothing to do with my appointment —Ojudu
Meanwile,
Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi
Ojudu, said, yesterday, that his role as a witness to the forgery case
preferred against the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and his
deputy, Ike Ekwerenmadu, in court had nothing to do with his present
appointment.
Ojudu
said he would testify as a member of the 7th Senate and the Unity Forum
that called the police attention to the forgery, adding that his
involvement in the case should be divorced from his current position.
He said:
“My statement and other witnesses’ statements were taken months before
my appointment. As a member of the Unity Forum, I am one of those who
worked for Senator Ahmed Lawan as the preferred candidate for the Senate
Presidency in the June 9, 2015, election.
“There
are three groups of senators, namely: the Unity Forum, Like Minds and
the Non-aligned. The Unity Forum comprises both serving and non-serving
senators. I am an active member, being a senator in the 7th Senate from
2011 to 2015.”
Ojudu said while he was in the Senate for four years, at no time were the rules amended.
He
added: “So tampering with the rules by the current Senate was seen as a
misnomer by us and that was why we petitioned the police.
“The
statement we did to the police on the matter predated my appointment and
that of Senator Ita Enang. It will, therefore, be preposterous for
anyone to classify me as representing the Presidency on the matter.”
No comments:
Post a Comment