PDP alleges plot to detain, remove Ekweremadu
Senate President,Senator Bukola Saraki,Deputy Senate President,Sen.Ike Ekweremadu taking his Oath of Office and Clerk of the National Assembly,Salisu Maikasuwa during the 8th National Assembly Inauguration PHOTO: Ladidi Lucy Elukpo.
•APC denies claim
Citing arbitrariness, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday disclosed that the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has been invited by the police for questioning and possible detention over an undisclosed crime today.
The party further alleged that there was a master plot by leaders of the All Progressives’ Congress(APC) to link Ekweremadu to series of charges and get him detained to pave way for his eventual removal from office as Deputy Senate President.
However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it has nothing to do with the reported police’s invitation of Ekweremadu, as alleged by the PDP in a statement.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it neither wrote a petition to the police nor is it aware that any petition was written against the Deputy Senate President.
Addressing journalists at the PDP national Secretariat in Abuja, the party’s national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, also alleged that there plots to compromise Ekweremadu’s security adding that his life was being threatened.
He stated: “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.
“We are aware that some APC senators opposed to the emergence of Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively met last week and concocted a petition accusing the Deputy Senate President of altering the Senate Rules on the process of election of the Presiding Officers, upon which the police via a letter dated July 1, 2015 and signed by the Deputy Inspector General in charge of criminal investigation at the Force Headquarters has invited him to appear today where he will be detained and put under pressure”.
On the threat to the life of Ekweremadu, and many other PDP leaders, Metuh said: “The PDP hereby states and in very clear terms too that the government and APC leaders should be held responsible should any harm come upon the Deputy Senate President or any of our party leaders for that matter. We state this because information available to us indicates that there are also plans to compromise security around the Deputy Senate President to make him vulnerable and open for sponsored violent attacks.
We do hope that the era of political assassination is not about to return to Nigeria and that our nation will not descent into a draconian regime where a strike force is created to hunt key opposition figures.
And rising in strong defence of Ekweremadu, the PDP said: “apart from the fact that the Nigerian Constitution clearly guarantees the two chambers of the National Assembly the powers to regulate their proceedings without external interferences, we note that the petition by this group of senators who enjoy the sympathy of some APC leaders lacks merit as Senator Ekweremadu or any other senator-elect prior to the inauguration of the Senate and the election of presiding officers, could not have been involved in the process of producing the 2015 Standing Rules of the Senate which was strictly done by the bureaucracy under the Clerk to the National Assembly.”
“Furthermore, Senator Ekweremadu was not in any way involved in the process other than being nominated for the position of the Deputy Senate President and could not have been privy to the secret ballot procedure adopted by the National Assembly bureaucracy, which has been widely adjudged as transparent and credible.”
The APC added: ‘’however, if, as the PDP claims, the petition concerns alleged altering of the Senate’s Standing Rules on the process of electing Presiding Officers, that is a clear case of forgery which the police have a duty to investigate. Questioning the right of the police to carry out their duties in this regard amounts to intimidating the security agency.”
APC said if indeed there is a petition against Ekweremadu, he should gladly heed the invitation by the police so he can clear his name, adding that no one is above the law.
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12 Comments
What’s the noise all about, if truly the guy fraudulently alter senate standing rules he should be made to face the music and in fact dance to it alone. Yes, APC may not be happy about a PDP senator as deputy senate, but is that the reason for any senator to alter the rules? Let’s wait for the outcome of police investigation – if found guilty, then let him be ROASTED!
What is meant by “fraudulently alter senate standing rules”? This is high suspicious. APC has not learned to accept defeat with grace but will contend every defeat until bad blood is shed.
Thanks you my Nwannem. In the first place I do not think it is right for Ekweremadu and his shameless folks to try to get a post in the senate when they lost woefully. It is this type of behavior that makes the rest of the country look at us Igbos as greedy. He should have asked for the position of Minority leader and use that position to make a lot of noise against the ruling party in order to reposition his party for victory next time around. I am really ashamed at the back-door approach he used to get himself a deputy senate president position. Igbo nasi “nkiti zuaa afia udene” Tufiakwa!!
No one is really above the law. I however sincerely advise President Muhammadu Buhari to emulate the enviable display of statemanship by his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, which, so far, has given this country peace. Undue partisanship may wake up the sleeping dog. Bickering and struggling for power must not be a mainstay of certain people to the detriment of the nation and its economy.
President Buhari, I believe that you’re a man of integrity and I agree with you when you said that the Constitution was followed and adhered to when the Senate President and Deputy Senate President were elected. But, I became confused when I read that you said that the Deputy Senate is not acceptable to you because he comes from an “opposing” party. Here I have two clarification to make. First, election of a member that comes from a party other than the ruling party is not prohibited by the constitution and the term “opposing” is misleading. I do believe that the intention of the Constitution allowing multiple parties in the Nation is NOT to CREATE OPPOSITION BUT TO PROVIDE FOR ALTERNATIVES.” Hence, I found it difficult to understand the President’s insistence that Sen. Ekweremadu’ election as the Deputy President is not acceptable to him with no apparent violation of the Constitution. Mr. President, Sir, I am afraid that your position is in contravention of the Constitution that you swore to uphold. Secondly, I will like to correct the wrong idea, notion and impression that an “alternative” party is an “opposition” party. I do believe that this terminology is very misleading and has never been the intention of the Constitution. I do believe that every other Party, either ruling or not, should not only be refer to but must been seen as an “ALTERNATIVE PARTY” and NOT an “OPPOSITION PARTY.” The term “opposition” connotes negativity, it is misleading and it has been causing problems either knowingly or unknowingly. It causes other parties not in power to see itself as an opposition whose avowed duty is to “oppose” anything done be the ruling party instead of seeing its duty as a proffer of alternative and better options to the ruling party’s position. It should be recalled that an alternative position is not at all an opposition. It is high time now that we see each others a partners in progress. Therefore, I will like to see my President, Buhari as a true PROGRESSIVE, that he professes to be, and embrace the new idea of collaborative governance and jettison the obsolete idea of old politics of the survival of fittest whereby other parties are seeing as enemy that must be destroyed at all cost. I know that America, a leading Democracy Nation, makes the same mistake, of referring to the other party not in power as an “opposition.” This mentality is hurting them badly – in that every move made by the ruling party is opposed by the other party no matter the merit or demerit of the government’s position. This does not mean that Nigeria cannot lead in a modern day Democracy that is innovative in ideas and practice. For once, let a black nation be the pioneer, a trail blazer, of a new modern day Democracy.
I think we live in an era where is there no longer what used to be known as “shame” (“Ifele” as it is said in Igboland). I am really wondering what else does mazi Ekweremadu want. Whatever happens to him, is his own palaver. Why get into another man’s house through the back door?. Our Igbo voters purportedly voted the way they did.That is fine. We are ready to live with it. Why is he interested in going to reap where he did not sow.. This is the type of behavior that makes the rest of Nigerians see us Igbos as too gullible, too much grab, grab. We do not need government to suceed in Nigeria. So why all this mess? Ekweremadu does not need or have to be deputy senate president again. Did David Mark shoot for the position of the senate president again? It is okay to be a floor memeber in the senate. Nothing is wrong with that. Just stay there and have your job done for the Enugu folks. Please stop over-heating the polity unnecessarily.
I am amazed at the comments of Nijaamaka and the level of ignorance exhibited by the comment. Just to educate Nijaamaka, the current president of the United States of America where Nigeria borrowed its form of government is a Democrat while the Senate Majority leader is of the Republican Party. It is a good thing for the presidency and the senate leadership to come from different parties to make checks and balances inevitable. Nigeria does not operate a unitary government as was the case when Buhari the military dictator used to give martial orders from his house and it was implemented. Nigeria is operating a democracy right now. The senate voted and accepted whomever they wanted as their leader. For any other person making a hullabaloo about it is GROSSLY IGNORANT. Buhari should get over it. Nigeria can send him for a six-month refresher course to the United States to understudy how democracy operates.
Rules and law should be followed,Saraki and ekweremadu did not follow the rules and law, this type of behavior is what we voted against. We want men of integrity in the house of senate. Why conducting election with only half members of the senate present? Imagine Saraki not having his bath the day he became senate president, sleeping inside a car overnight?What type of person is he?
If it is true this guy alter the house standing rule he must resign NOW !!!!!!!!! and face prosecution. This matter must not be swept under the carpet. He is suppose to be a law maker not a lawless law breaker.
If we are copying american system we must do it right. It has never happened in the history of the Americans we are copying where the minority party in the senate emerged as the senate vise by altering the standing order of the house with the connivance of one of the ruling party senator. If people don’t understand how the system works in America they should just stop opening Nigeria to ridicule.
Buhari can reject any NASS member who is assuming the position of power through any fraudulent means . If it is true that the NASS standing order was altered for the purpose of the NASS leadership election there must be an investigation and prosecution that is the change Nigerians voted for. QED.
It is high time for Metuh to stop deceiving Nigerians, there is nothing he is accusing APC of that the defunct PDP did not over do, from subterfuge, to false alarm, criminality, thuggery, falsehood, monumental corruption and deceit. PDP was the height of all evil that is unimaginable, Metuh and his co travellers need to answer for their clandestine evils perpetrated under the watch of Jonathan. If they are not tried for all their lawlessness and brigands Nigerians will not rest from concocted baseless stories. If Ekweremadu has forged senate rules, then he should not only be investigated but must be tried and punished.
We will review and take appropriate action.