IGP invitation: South East, PDP rise in defence of Ekweremadu

By Ezugwu Obinna |

Leaders of the South East Geopolitical Zone has risen in defence of Deputy Senate President (DSP), Senator Ike Ekweremmadu over what they called dubious plans by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to intimidate and remove him from his position as DSP.

This comes in the wake of Ekweremmadu’s recent invitation by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase for allegedly forging senate rules following his emergence as the deputy senate president in the senate leadership election held last month. Some political leaders from zone who spoke to Hallmark described as incomprehensible, the rationale behind such accusation when Ekweremmadu was duly elected by majority vote on the day of the election.

“It is unfortunate that the APC has started too early to demonstrate how very rusty some of their desperate leaders can be in an attempt to manifest a culture of impunity and draconian tendencies. That has been the fear of some us; the tendency that produced that party was not only extremely far right but also extremely conservative and has nothing to do with being progressive,” stated Abia Onyike, a foremost Igbo leader and chieftain of the PDP in Ebonyi State.

He further described the invitation as pure witch-hunt and a manifestation of the extremist tendencies of those who wish to derail the country’s democracy.

“This shameless witch hunting of Ekweremmadu is a concrete manifestation of their extremist political culture and posturing which will only heighten tension in the country and derail the current democratic dispensation. They are fighting from all fronts, the Buhari presidency is comatose; he is walking at snail speed, they have the crisis at the National Assembly to contend with, and also the crisis within their party; including the boycott of their NEC meeting by Bola Tinubu and his loyalists. And that is the very separatist political tendency that we have always been afraid of,” he noted.

Onyike insisted that the APC has nothing to offer Nigeria in the 21^st century, noting that the move against the Deputy Senate President was part of the anti-Igbo policies of those who wish to restore the old order. “Those people have nothing to offer Nigerians in the 21th century, and that is the truth of the matter. They will keep on dilly-dallying, using criminal methods to overcome their problems. I mean if the deputy senate president was elected with Saraki in a democratic election in the senate chambers, why should they now resort to bringing in the police?” he querried.

“After all, at the end of the day, there were 75 senators that voted on that day, and out of the 75, about 55 voted for Ekweremadu while Ali Ndume who challenged him got 20 votes, was that not democratic? So what has that got to do with senate rule or standing rules or whatever, was it also the reason they went to the International Conference Centre to attend a meeting purportedly called by President Buhari? So these are confusionists; they are fascists, and their fascist method of doing things will always bring together very dangerous snagging because in the first place, they are not democrats. Our warning is that they should just leave the National Assembly to operate as an independent arm of government.”

“It is part of their anti-Igbo hysteria because these people are from the old order who never believed that the Igbo man should have a say in this country. So they think they can now use the police to harass him to resign, it is not possible, he was elected by the senate. If there was a crime committed by way of senate rules or whatever, it should not involve the police; it is a civil matter that should be tackled by the clerk of the house. The invitation of the police is diversionary. They want to use the police to bring confusion in the country.”

Concluding, Onyike affirmed his believe that a political party should not interfere with an independent arm of government such as the legislature.  “The APC leadership has no role to play in the election of people in the National Assembly. In a democracy, every institution is autonomous and independent. The role of the party is election, nomination of candidates and so on.

“Now it has all ended, no party leader, even Tinubu has the right to dictate to the National Assembly, where does he derive the power from? The Nigerian parliament is an independent institution, why should they dictate to them? Why should they bring in the police to intervene over an election that was internal and very democratic? Do they want to destroy the democracy or what? They should carry their luck too far.

“If they believe that Ekweremmadu committed a crime, why was he not arrested immediately the crime was committed? Why did they wait for so long? So the whole thing is an afterthought and politically motivated.” He said.

Also speaking, Chief Vita Abba, the immediate past chairman of the PDP in Enugu State stated that forgery was not in the nature of Ekweremadu, noting that those plotting against him were only distracting the nation.

“Forgery or abuse of office is not in the character of our son, Senator Ike Ekweremmadu. Enugu people are sure of him; hence we gave him to Nigeria and ECOWAS. Those after him are distracting the nation. A great bridge builder in the mould of Ekweremmadu is what the country needs,” Abba said.

In his own reaction, the president of Igbo Cultural Society of Nigeria, Chief Udoka Udeogaranya observed that the police had denied arresting him,“The police has denied the report, they said they did not arrest Ekweremmadu, let’s see if he appears before them today then we will know what to say.”

When Hallmark contacted the Secretary General of Igbo apex Socio-Cultural Group, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Joe Nworgu, he stated that the group had already made its position known on the matter.

Meanwhile, the PDP has in an official statement by its Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh condemned the move against Ekweremmadu, describing it as a threat to the country’s democracy. “As we address you today, some key leaders of our party have been under threat since the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly which did not go the way of the leadership of the APC, particularly, the election of PDP’s Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President. The leadership of the PDP has been made aware of various threats to life and other forms of intimidation and blackmail against Senator Ekweremadu from the APC.”

“As you may know, the APC leaders have not hidden their bitterness and resentment towards Senator Ekweremadu whose offense is the privilege of being elected by his colleagues (APC and PDP senators alike) as Deputy Senate President in line with the Standing Rules of the Senate and the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Metuh said.

“Since President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement that Senator Ekweremadu’s election was ‘unacceptable’ to his party, the Deputy Senate President, who can only be removed by the Senate has come under threats and intense pressure from APC leaders to resign and allow a senator from the ruling party to take his position.”

“However, having failed to get him to resign, the APC has now engaged in heinous plots to force him out of office, a design, which totally negates the independence of the legislature and the spirit and letters of the constitution of Nigeria.”

“Apparently to ensure that the agenda is given an official stamp, the Inspector General of Police, acting on instructions has invited the Deputy Senate President with a view to arresting him over phantom charges as a build up to incarcerate him, create a vacuum in the Senate and pave way for the imposition of APC preferred senator to take over his position.”

The party accused the ruling APC of using both the police and INEC officials to fight Ekweremmadu and assured that it will not fold it arms and watch. “As a party that sustained and nurtured democracy in the last 16 years, the PDP cannot fold its hands and watch but will stand with all patriots in resisting this attempt to transform our country from a democratic state where the freedom of citizens to hold personal opinions and aspirations are guaranteed, to a nation where despotism, fear, clamp down on opposition and of course the media will be the order of the day.”

The APC has however, in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed denied any involvement with the said invitation, while the Nigerian Police has also refuted the claims.