The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase,on
Sunday summoned the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, over
alleged forgery of the Senate Rules on election of its principal
officers,the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said.
The PDP said Ekweremadu is expected to appear before a team of
investigators at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Monday (today).
It said the letter inviting the deputy senate president was dated July 1,
2015 and was signed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in
charge of criminal investigation at the FHQ.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said this
at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday.
The Force Headquarters has however said that he did not single out
Ekweremadu for investigation.
The Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Abayomi Shogunle,
explained that the investigation was not about an individual, rather, the
police are investigating a petition by a senator alleging forgery of the
Senate rules and standing orders.
Shogunle said the case was being handled by the Force Criminal
Investigation Department.
He said:
“In line with the resolve of the police leadership to gather
evidence, the FCID sent a letter to the Senate clerk requesting a
meeting with principal officers. The police didn’t send a letter to
the deputy senate president, but to the clerk.
“What we did was to write to the clerk to facilitate a meeting with
some of the senators to verify the allegations that were made,
the police have respect for democratic values; but the clerk is yet
to respond to the letter.
“No invitation was sent to the deputy senate president. It’s not
about an individual, but about those that should be in the know
of the senate rules and standing orders. The investigation is
being led by the DIG, FCID.”
The 'forged rule' was said to have been used for the election of the
leadership of the 8th Senate, in which Bukola Saraki emerged as the
Senate President and Ekweremadu the deputy.
Saraki is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, while
Ekweremadu is of the minority PDP.
Metuh however alleged that the invitation to Ekweremadu was a ploy to
arrest and detain him by the APC-led Federal Government.
He insisted at the Sunday briefing that Ekweremadu would be detained
at the FHQ when he showed up on Monday (today).
The PDP spokesman said the national leadership of the APC had not
been happy with the election of Ekweremadu as the deputy senate
president and that all the attempts allegedly made to let him resign by
the ruling party had failed, hence the alleged plan to use the police to
intimidate him.
Metuh said,
“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 tomorrow (today), Monday, July 6, 2015
where he will be detained and put under pressure.”
He said neither Ekweremadu nor any other senator-elect, prior to the
inauguration of the Senate and the election of presiding officers, could
have been involved in the process of producing the 2015 Standing
Rules of the Senate.
The Senate Standing Rules is strictly done by the bureaucracy under
the Clerk to the National Assembly.
He said:
“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,” Metuh explained.
“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 an APC
preferred senator to take over his position.”
Metuh said that the petition by the aggrieved senators to the police
lacked merit.
Metuh also said the PDP had information that instructions had been
passed to certain officials at the Independent National Electoral
Commission to alter some electoral documents and records in order to
create the impression that Ekweremadu did not file proper documents
for the general elections in order to eventually pave way for his removal.
“In line with the above plot, the APC has been having secret
meetings with some judges and lawyers to procure injunctions
to prevent Ekweremadu from playing his role as the deputy
senate president,” he further alleged.
The PDP spokesman said that part of the plot was a conspiracy to
tarnish Ekweremadu’s image and open him to public ridicule.
He alleged that on Monday last week, some APC leaders met in Abuja
to perfect a plot to blackmail the deputy senate president by planting
bizarre publications against him in the media.
Metuh stated 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.”
He said,
“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 descend into a
draconian regime where a strike force is created to hunt key
opposition figures.”
He said the PDP would
“not consider it a mere coincidence if our key leaders suddenly
become victims of terror attacks or are suddenly killed by armed
robbers.”
“This is especially as we are aware that the APC has even gone
to the ridiculous extent of trailing key PDP leaders and bugging
their telephone lines,” he said.
The National Publicity Secretary of the the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement on Sunday, that it had nothing to do with the decision of the police to invite Ekweremadu.
Source: The punch news
