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Tag: Ekweremadu

  • Fed Govt too big, says Ekweremadu

    Fed Govt too big, says Ekweremadu

    THE functions of the Federal Government, as presently constituted, are too big and should be adjusted, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu said yesterday.

    Speaking in Abuja, Ekweremadu said the Federal Government as presently constituted was too large and difficult to operate.

    According to him, the states have little roles to perform whereas the Federal Government is overburdened with responsibilities.

    “We believe that the Federal Government as presently constituted is too big and we need to adjust it.

    “In a situation where you have in the concurrent list only about 16 items, most of the other things are in the exclusive list.

    “It doesn’t make sense. So, we need to find a way of trimming the Federal Government to the benefit of the component states.

    “So that some of these issues don’t become federal issues and that is the idea of federalism.

    “We are looking at that, things like arbitration, agriculture, environment and such issues. Some of these things should go to the concurrent list and even the Police,” he said.

    The deputy president of the senate noted that the solution to Nigeria’s security situation was the decentralisation of the Police and allowing state governments to have their police.

    He pointed out that each state varied in the kind of security challenges and the kind of policing required.

    On the fear that state government could hijack the force in their states, he said that there should be a commission to oversee the state police just like the National Judicial Council (NJC) oversees the judiciary.

    “We cannot decentralise the police now because some people are still opposed to it.

    “But I think it is beginning to make sense that you cannot be able to deal with our security situation in Nigeria except we change our security architecture.

    “There is no place in this world where a federal system has a unitary type of policing which we have now.

    “This is why we will continue to get it wrong in solving our security problems.

    “It is not going to work until we change the architecture of our policing: a federal state as big as Nigeria must have to adopt a decentralised police.

    “But we need to first take Nigerians to the level where they will understand this,’’ he said.

    Also, Ekwerenmadu said that local governments should also be given some level of autonomy so that they too could perform their functions.

    He said the reason for scrapping local governments’ account and merging it with state governments was that the states could contribute some money to what the local governments receive from federation accounts.

    “We need to create some level of independence for the local governments, especially in the area of funding.

    “We can look at Section 162 of the constitution where the issue of withdrawing the local government account was created.”

     

     

  • I am vindicated by CCT acquittal – Saraki

    I am vindicated by CCT acquittal – Saraki

    … It’s a victory for democracy – Ekweremadu

    The President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday said his discharge and acquittal by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has vindicated him.

    Saraki, whose trial for false assets declaration started in 2015, said in a statement he personally signed, that the outcome of the trial has renewed the citizens’ faith in the courts.

    The decision, he added, has also restored the hope that the judiciary in the country could indeed provide sanctuary for all those who seek justice.

    The statement said, “You would recall that at the beginning of the trial, I maintained that I will clear my name. The conclusion of this trial has vindicated my position.

    “With the outcome of this case, our faith is renewed in our courts and our hope is restored that the judiciary in our country could indeed provide sanctuary for all those who seek justice.

    “I thank the Almighty Allah, the ultimate Judge and the repository of all powers. He alone has brought about this victory. I am immensely grateful to all my colleagues in the National Assembly for their abiding support.

    “All through my trial, they demonstrated their strong conviction about the choice we all decided to make two years ago. I thank members of my family for their unflinching support.

    “I thank all friends and supporters back home in Kwara State and across the length and breadth of our country for their prayers and their sacrifices. My gratitude also goes to all members of my legal team for their tireless efforts to ensure the cause of justice is served.”

    The Senate president said his acquittal by the CCT calls for celebration of the hopes that despite the challenges facing the country, “we are well on our way to building a country where the innocent needs not be afraid.”

    He urged his supporters to refrain from any unbridled triumphalism, saying the challenges the country faces today are enormous and do not allow for wanton celebration.

    He added: “Instead, we should all reflect on the significance of this moment and what it meant for our democracy.

    “On a personal note, I harbour no grudge against anyone, regardless of the role they might have played in the persecution that I had endured in the last two years.

    “I believe that if my trial had in anyway given hope to the common man that no matter the forces arraigned against him, he can still get justice in our courts, then my tribulation had not been in vain.

    “Once again, I thank my colleagues in the 8th Senate for standing firm. Regardless of the distraction of my trial, we have achieved more as legislators than the previous Senates.

    “Now that this distraction is over, we can even achieve so much more. We must now proceed from here with greater vigour to deliver on the expectations of Nigerians and show that this 8th Senate can indeed play a central role in improving the quality of lives of our people.

    “Lastly, I thank all the gentlemen of the press for your abiding interest in this case, which I believe had contributed in no small measure in ensuring that truth and reason ultimately prevailed.”

    Meanwhile, Deputy Senate President,  Ike Ekweremadu, has described as “victory for democracy” Saraki’s discharge and acquittal by the CCT.

    Reacting to the tribunal’s verdict through a statement issued by his Special Adviser, Uche Anichukwu, the deputy Senate president said it did not come to him as a surprise given that, “like the trumped up forgery and conspiracy charges slammed against him and Saraki which was later withdrawn by the Federal Government, the CCT trial was hatched in the coven of evil politics and was, therefore, bound to fall like a pack of cards.”

    “This is another sweet victory for the 8th Senate in particular, separation of powers, rule of law, and the nation’s democracy. The trial, just like the arraignment of the presiding officers of the Senate on trumped up charges of forgery of Senate Standing Rules, was political vendetta and manipulations taken too far.

    “It was never built on any iota of truth, but on the quicksand of falsehood and was, therefore, condemned to sink under the weight of law and justice.”

     

     

  • Ekweremadu hails arraignment of ‘whistleblower’

    Ekweremadu hails arraignment of ‘whistleblower’

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu yesterday asked the police to conduct thorough investigation to determine the masterminds of the raid in his Abuja guest house.

    Ekweremadu stated this while hailing Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris on the prosecution of one of the false whistleblowers, who the police claimed misled them into raiding his official guest house in Abuja on Friday.

    Reacting to the arraignment of the suspect, Ahmed Echodo, before an Upper Area Court, Gudu, Abuja, yesterday, Ekweremadu said such would serve as a lesson to other false whistleblowers and agencies of government.

    The Deputy Senate President, in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media)  Uche Anichukwu in Abuja, noted that beyond the arraignment, the police should dig deeper to determine if there were influential masterminds behind the incident.

    Ekweremadu said: “I want to give the police hierarchy the benefit of doubt that it did not authorise the impunity, harassment and witch-hunt executed by police officers on my official guest house last Friday, and that the police were misled.

    “I hope the swift arraignment of the alleged whistle blowers will be emulated by other security and anti-corruption agencies and also serve as a deterrent to those who lend themselves as willing tools to people out to intimidate and persecute others as well as tarnish their image for whatever motives.

    “But beyond the arraignment, I urge the police to dig deeper to determine if there were influential masterminds behind the incident as a bird does not dance by the roadside without a drumbeater somewhere in the bush.

    “Perhaps, if the attempt on my life on November 17, 2015 was taken seriously by the security agencies, those who desperately seek to destroy me by all means possible would have been fished out or had a rethink.”

    He noted that although the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, earlier insisted that the raid during which nothing incriminating was found was not carried out by men of the force, the police, however, yesterday arraigned Echodo for allegedly conspiring with one Maiwada Adamu, now at large, to mislead them into the raid.

  • Ekweremadu to IPOB, MASSOB: sit-at-home should be optional

    Ekweremadu to IPOB, MASSOB: sit-at-home should be optional

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has advised that the sit-at-home order declared by some rights groups in the Southeast for tomorrow  should  be optional.

    The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) are behind the stay- at- home call to observe their anniversary.

    Ekweremaduwho spoke yesterday at an Inter-denominational church service at the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, to commemorate 2017 Democracy Day and Governor David Umahi’s second year in office, noted that while the agitation and concerns of the groups were genuine, they should not be pursued with force or other forms of armed struggle.

    “Individuals who operate private businesses and want to stay-at-home on that day should stay, while those who want to operate their businesses should be allowed to do so.

    “I believe that civil and public workers should be ready to go to work on that day as I appeal that no group should force people to stay at home against their wishes,” he added.

    The deputy senate president called on the agitators to embrace dialogue and constructive engagement in pursuing their agitation; not coercion or other forms of armed struggle.

    “The struggles and concerns are genuine but with the collaboration of all and constructive engagement, we will surely get to our destination no matter how long it takes.

    “Black Americans agitated for a long time before Barack Obama became president in 2008, likewise in India, it took constructive engagement for the people to actualise their agitation.

    “South Africa despite racial disturbances and black oppression, employed constructive engagement and intervention of the western world and African interests such as Nigeria’s, to dismantle apartheid,” he said.

    Ekweremadu congratulated the people of Ebonyi on the second year in office of their governor.

    He noted that the state had mature politically and socially, adding that any indigene could aspire for any political office in the state.

    Umahi noted that no individual or group would force the citizens of the state to stay-at-home on May 30.

    “I have met the leadership of these groups on various occasions and discovered that most of their agitations are correct but the ways they seek to actualise them can be faulted.

    “I have also met the leadership of market unions in the state and we resolved that markets would be open on that day and no trader or any other individual will be molested,” he said.

    The governor said that the case of Ebonyi was different as the state had suffered untold marginalisation right from its days in old Anambra, Imo, Enugu and Abia states.

    “The deputy senate president is fighting marginalisation of the Igbos at the federal level; when this is addressed, we will start our own agitation of marginalisation as a state.

    “Ebonyi does not believe in regional government because we will continue suffering deprivation but believe in the restructuring of the country to address all imbalances,” he said.

    In his homily, Rev. Fr Abraham Nwali urged political and economic leaders in the state to build industries instead of embarking on ‘non-direct-impact’ projects such as hotels.

    “The governor should be supported in his desire to ensure that sachet water companies are constructed in the three senatorial zones of the state,’’ he said.

  • No one can stop Igbo demand for restructure, Ekweremadu vows

    No one can stop Igbo demand for restructure, Ekweremadu vows

    • World Igbo Congress kicks over ‘plot’ to take deputy senate president from S/E

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu declared yesterday that the Southeast is not prepared to forgo its demand for the restructuring of the country, no matter the odds.

    He asked the Igbo never to “relent until the needful is done” on the agitation for restructuring.

    “If the dominant views in the public domain are anything to go by, then undoubtedly, the minimum Ndigbo demand of Nigeria is a restructure of the federation so that every component part of it can substantially harness its resources, cut its coat according to its cloth, and develop at its own speed,” he said at the World Igbo Congress (WIC) held in Enugu yesterday, 24 hours after armed security men raided his official guest house in Abuja.

    The Congress condemned the raid and warned the authorities against a repeat.

    Ekweremadu, recalled the ill-fated Aburi Accord, and said: “Instructively, the ill-fated Aburi Accord was about restructuring, even if it is not exactly as we want it today. But it was breached and discarded, plunging the nation into an avoidable fratricidal war.

    “Yet, 50 years after, the need and call for restructuring and return to a true federal state have only persisted. Although the call initially fell on deaf ears, it is heart warming that the right quarters are beginning to listen and the call is gathering traction daily, even from hitherto improbable quarters.”

    He said all the Igbo want is an equal and level playing ground for every section.

    He pleaded that the Igbo “peaceful struggle for a better deal within the Nigerian commonwealth should be sustained.”

    He added: “the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa was not achieved by violent struggle. The actualization of equal rights for blacks in the United States of America by the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. was through peaceful struggle.

    “The actualization of Indian independence by Mahatma Gandhi was by non-violent means. Nnamdi Kanu and Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, before him, were released from their respective long detentions through lawful and democratic engagements.”

    He asked the authorities to respect the rights of Ndigbo to “peaceful and democratic engagements”.

    He said that alleged plan to exclude the South East, South South, North Central, and North East from the railway projects of the federal government is unacceptable.

    According to him, “the last request to the Senate by the Presidency for the approval of a USD5.185 billion China Exim Bank loan indicated that the Federal Government was still searching for concessioners to develop the Eastern Corridor.

    “But, the questions are: why will loans taken on behalf of Nigerians and to be repaid by all Nigerians exclude more than a half of the country from the benefits of such loans?

    “Why should the South East, South South, North Central, and North East pay for what they were inexplicably excluded from enjoying? Why must the Eastern Line be relegated to concession arrangement, to be paid for by our people as they use the facilities?

    “What is the likelihood of even getting a concessioner, especially given the history of concessions in the country? Fairness and equity, as espoused by the Federal Character Principle in Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution, demand that every part of the country should be carried along.”

    In a resolution issued at the end of yesterday’s talks, the WIC wondered why anyone should be thinking of taking away from the Southeast the slot of deputy senate president in the current dispensation.

    That was in response to the Friday raid of Ekweremadu’s guest house in Abuja which the deputy senate president himself believes is part of the effort by the federal government to intimidate him and remove him from office.

    The Congress asked where the security men who conducted the raid could have come from if the police denied sending them.

  • Security agents raid Ekweremadu’s guest house

    Security agents raid Ekweremadu’s guest house

    Armed security agents    yesterday stormed the  official guest house of the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu in Abuja, ostensibly in search of  hidden money and arms.

    The morning raid of the building at No. 10, Ganges Street, Maitama, Abuja, however  yielded no fruit.

    The federal government   immediately came under  fire from Ekweremadu,  the  PDP caucus in the Senate and former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode,  for  allegedly trying to bully the opposition.

    The Deputy Senate President accused the police of raiding the building all in an attempt  to “rubbish, arrest, prosecute and ultimately remove” him from office.

    The police denied any involvement in the raid.

    When The Nation contacted the Force Spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood, to confirm the reason for the action, he simply said: “It was not the police.

    “You know that sometimes other agencies can use the police to carry out an operation, but as far as this raid is concerned, it was not the police.”

    Fani-Kayode said the raid was part of the government’s  agenda to “foster and engender an atmosphere of fear and terror on the opposition,” while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senate caucus  called it an “unwarranted, unacceptable and a deliberate attempt to muzzle the opposition.”

    Ekweremadu’s office in a statement last night gave its own account of what transpired,saying: “At about 8am on Friday, May 26, 2017, men of the Nigeria Police Force from the Inspector General of Police Special Squad raided the official guest house of the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, located at No. 10, Ganges Street, Maitama, Abuja.

    “The police, however, stated at the end of the search that nothing incriminating was found.

    “The police operatives met the steward, Oliver Ogenyi, and some of Ekweramdu’s staff and their children in the house.

    “In spite of the fact that they were informed that the property is the guest house of the Deputy President of the Senate, they nevertheless proceeded to thoroughly search the house without establishing any contact with the Deputy President of the Senate or any of his senior staff.

    “The steward was taken away by the police to the Special Anti-Robbery (SARS) Office, Garki, Abuja, where the IGP Special Squad’s office is also located.

    “Ogenyi was later released after making a statement.

    “The Deputy Senate President is a law-abiding citizen and does not dispute the fact that the security agencies are empowered by law to carry out searches on premises in accordance with the law.

    “However, the law requires that the owner of the property or his representative must be informed and should be present during the search.

    “Senator Ekweremadu is worried about the manner in which his guest house was raided. The questions are: Was there a search warrant? What were they looking for? Who searched the police officers before the search? Who supervised the search? etc.

    “Instructively, this incident comes just a few weeks after Senator Ekweremadu, on May 3, 2017, read to the Senate in plenary a written, but anonymous tip-off by a patriotic Nigerian on a plot to plant incriminating sums of foreign currencies, arms, and ammunition s in a house linked to him under the pretext of the whistle-blower policy.

    “The aim, according to the source, was to rubbish, arrest, prosecute, and ultimately remove Senator Ekweremadu from office.

    “Nigerians and the international community will recall that Senator Ekweremadu and the Senate President were, in June 2016, arraigned before a Federal Capital Territory High Court on trumped-up charges of forgery of Senate Standing Rules (2015) even when the petition by members of the Senate Unity Forum, statements by Senators and bureaucrats interrogated by the police, and indeed the police report itself did not mention, let alone accuse or indict any of them of any wrongdoing.

    “The Senate’s presiding officers were docked when the proof of evidence did not establish any culpability on their part.

    “The orchestrated political trial, calculated witch-hunt, barefaced intimidation, and clear attempt to emasculate the parliament and silence the leadership of the Senate, was eventually, but reluctantly withdrawn when external counsel briefed by the AGF, after studying the file, advised the Federal Government to do so.

    “It is also worth recalling that neither the police nor any of the security agencies has cared to investigate or even interview the Deputy President of the Senate on the attempt on his life on November 17, 2015, even when the dastardly act was duly reported to them.

    “Therefore, the Deputy President of the Senate condemns in strong terms the prevailing situation where people in positions of power, blindfolded by extreme selfish interests, are using security agencies to harass, embarrass, and intimidate political opponents.”

    And in a statement last night on the raid,spokesman for the PDP Senate Caucus, Enyinnaya Abaribe faulted  police explanations that they acted on whistle-blower’s tip-off.

    He noted  that the “failed gestapo-like operation was nothing but a smokescreen to cover up a carefully orchestrated plot to intimidate Senator Ekweremadu and by so doing cow the opposition from pointing out the failings of the government of the day.”

    According to the caucus, “the raid said to have been ordered by the Inspector General of police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, on a property owned by the National Assembly was a wilful affront on democracy.”

    “A raid on a property of another arm of government is a dangerous  continuation of attack on the institutions that effects the needed checks on the excesses of the executive.

    “It cast an ominous sign and this must stop”, Abaribe said.

    It’s shameful, says Fani-Kayode.

    Also reacting, former  Minister of Aviation, Mr. Fani-Kayode said the raid was  shameful and shocking.

    “Raiding the homes of our friends and leaders like Ekweremadu and harassing their children will not deter, stop or silence those of us that are in the opposition. It will only harden our hearts and strengthen our resolve.

    “As each day goes by more and more people have come to accept the fact that the Buhari administration is a government of fascists.

    “They are led and guided by dark and sinister forces whose sole agenda is to divide our people and destroy our country.

    “It is about time that  Nigerians woke up and stood up to their madness and tyranny.

    “We must employ all lawful means to resist them and expose them for what they are. Not only are they incompetent but they are also sadistic and wicked.

    “Nowhere in the world do citizens sit by idly and say nothing when their rights are being violated in this way.

    “The Federal Government is trying to foster and engender an atmosphere of fear and terror and this will not work because we refuse to be intimidated.

    “You illegally and indefinitely lock up Sambo Dasuki, El-ZakyZaky, Ifeanyi Uba and countless others and you criminalize them before the world.

    “Worse still you refuse to bring them before the courts of law or to give their lawyers full and free access to them.”

    Fani-Kayode accused the government of bias in dealing with the opposition.

    The statement added: “You demonize opposition members and those that criticize your government whilst you treat your own party members and government officials as if they were angels and saints even when and where they indulge in monumental acts of depravity and corruption.

    “Instead of protecting the lives Nigerians from the barbaric Fulani militias and herdsmen and other genocidal maniacs you are using the security forces to wage war against the opposition and the Nigerian people.

    “My belief is that the Acting President may not have known about this barbaric raid and if that is the case I implore him to put a leash on his dogs and stop them from terrorizing innocent Nigerians.

    “Their behaviour is not only shameful but it is also utterly reprehensible and let them be rest assured that their desperate attempt to dehumanize us and bring us to our knees will fail because God is with us.

    “An attack on or the violation of the constitutional rights of Ekweremadu or any other opposition figure or dissenting voice in this nation is an attack on all of us.

    “This sort of thing must stop because this is a democracy and not a military dictatorship.”

  • EFCC and Ekweremadu’s blackmail

    SIR: Last week on a national TV at 10pm, one watched the PDP caucus of the National Assembly allege that the Presidency, using the EFCC, wants to arrest Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and all other former PDP governors who are now senators as well as dissenting voices in the APC.

    If one may ask, does the office of the Deputy Senate President have immunity against arrest?

    From one’s reading of the relevant section of the 1999 constitution as amended, the category of public officers who are immune from arrest are the President, Vice President, governors and deputy governors.

    Thus one is appalled and ashamed that our senators can be so irresponsible to resort to cheap blackmail against an agency of the state in an obviously orchestrated plot to intimidate and distract the anti graft agency from its statutory functions.

    This irresponsible and irresponsive act of blackmail by our senators using the office of the Deputy Senate President is nothing but legislative rascality which stands condemned.

     

    • Nelson Ekujumi,

    <ekujuminel@yahoo.com>

  • Ekweremadu seeks justice, forgiveness

    Ekweremadu seeks justice, forgiveness

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has urged Nigerians to rededicate themselves to the virtues of justice, forgiveness and reconciliation at Easter.
    In a goodwill message by his media Adviser, Uche Anichukwu, Ekweremadu warned no nation would make progress unless people were willing to forgive the past, reconcile their differences, and enthrone justice for all, irrespective of their religious, ethnic, and political backgrounds.
    The lawmaker, who stressed that injustice and unforgiveness were utterly slowing down the nation’s progress, maintained that Easter offers an opportunity for sober reflection.
    “Righting the wrongs of the past includes restoring for true federalism, the very foundation upon which our fathers covenanted to build the Nigerian nation to enthrone justice, equity, and peace as well as speedy and lasting development,” Ekweremadu stated.

  • PDP will return in 2019 – Ekweremadu

    PDP will return in 2019 – Ekweremadu

    Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Wednesday assured that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would return to power in 2019.

    Ekweremadu also lamented the prevailing hunger and anger in parts of the country.

    He urged the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to take steps to quickly put out the “fire because a hungry man is an angry man.”

    Ekweremadu spoke when the PDP reconciliation committee headed by the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, met with him and the National Assembly Caucus of the party in Abuja.

    Citing example of the Republican Party which won the United States presidential election despite its internal crisis, Ekweremadu said PDP would surely bounce back.

    He said: “We have crisis. Yes, but just like every organisation and every political party once in a while.

    “The Republican Party in the United States of America had their crisis even in the midst of election, yet they won the election. There was a time during the crisis that some party leaders disowned their presidential candidate. They refused to campaign for him. But in despite that, Americans voted for the Republican Party. Today, they have the presidency and the majority in the Senate and the House.

    “So, whatever happens, I believe, surely, PDP will be back in 2019”.

    He, however, reminded PDP faithful that both the party and the nation were on fire, hence opposition party had no time to dissipate on internal wrangling.

    He added: “Today, the country is in crisis. So, our (PDP) house is also burning. We can’t be chasing rats while our house is burning. The PDP house that is burning needs to be rescued. And everybody needs to put in efforts to ensure that it happens.

    “But, I think the greater tragedy is that the Nigerian community is also burning. There is hunger in the land. There is also anger in the land because a hungry man is an angry man.

    “There is also tension all over the country. People are being killed, from Ile Ife to Benue, to Zamfara, all the way to Borno and Kano.

    “So, we cannot be struggling over leadership when our people are dying of hunger and starvation, and while there is tension all over the place. Nigerians expect all of us, not just the PDP people, but the entire leaders of this country to work together for the peace and progress of Nigeria.

    “So, the time to come together is now and I’m happy that everybody is thinking about it.”

  • Fresh anxiety in Senate over Ekweremadu

    Fresh anxiety in Senate over Ekweremadu

    The battle for Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu’s seat is not yet over as All Progressives Congress (APC) senators begin fresh moves to persuade him to defect to the party or face impeachment, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan

    Nearly two years after his controversial emergence as the Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, strong indications emerged during the week that the controversies surrounding the continued stay in office of Senator Ike Ekweremadu of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled red chamber, may not be over yet.

    Authoritative sources at the National Assembly told The Nation during the week that the Enugu-born legislator may soon have to follow the footsteps of some of his colleagues by dumping the opposition PDP for the ruling APC or forfeit the revered position of the Deputy Senate President he currently holds.

    Ekweremadu became the number two man in the senate on the crest of an intra-party crisis within the ruling APC that saw the Likeminds group of Senators, led by Senate President Bukola Saraki, aligning with the minority PDP senators to produce the leadership of the National Assembly at the inception of the current senate in June 2015.

    The development was vehemently opposed by the Unity Forum, another group of APC senators who were then opposed to the ambition of Saraki to preside over the senate. The Unity Forum senators, who recently got one of them, Senator Ahmed Lawan, elected as the new Senate Leader, are still very much opposed to Ekweremadu’s continued stay in office.

    Specifically, a Senator from the south southern geo-political zone of the country, who is a member of one of the committees currently being chaired by the embattled Deputy Senate President, told The Nation that members of the ruling APC caucus in the senate may have resolved to retrieve the position back into the party as part of ongoing reconciliation efforts within the majority party.

    “Just like you said, I am also aware that in recent weeks, there seems to be renewed talks among the caucuses about the Deputy Senate presidency. While the majority APC wants the position to return to their caucus, following the impressive successes made with the ongoing reconciliation efforts within the party, the PDP is determined to ensure that the status quo remains,” he disclosed.

    The lawmaker, who pleaded anonymity, said that “even though the peace currently being enjoyed by the senate is unlikely to be disturbed, I cannot say the same of the position of the Deputy Senate President. You will recall how we had a seamless change in the position of the Majority Leader of the Senate, few weeks back.”

    The Nation gathered that the APC caucus in the red chamber is working hard in its bid to find a way of ensuring that a member of the caucus sits as the number two man in the senate. “It is one of the mandates given to us by the leadership of our party, as part of the process that will see to the unification of the party’s caucus in the National Assembly,” a source said.

    “You must also not forget that President Muhammadu Buhari has never hidden his displeasure with the situation where the opposition party holds the exalted position of Deputy Senate President in this administration. And as loyal party men who understands politics very well, it is natural that, now that the APC caucus is one family in the senate, we want the position back in our fold,” another Senator told The Nation.

    Senate sources claimed that unlike in the past when APC senators were sharply divided over the Ekweremadu saga, it appears there is a common position amongst Likeminds and Unity Forum senators now that it is not politically expedient for an opposition senator to continue to occupy the position of the Deputy Senate President.

    “The disagreement over the issue, as far as I can see, based on how we now feel as a caucus, is a thing of the past. The party’s interest is now uppermost in the minds of all APC senators, whether you are Likemind or Unity Forum. There is a common position now that it is no longer politically expedient for an opposition senator to continue to occupy the position of the Deputy Senate President,” The Nation was told.

    Options for Ekweremadu

    Findings by The Nation revealed that while APC Senators in the National Assembly are united in their rock readiness to get the position of the Deputy Senate President back into their caucus, not all of them are bent on seeing Ekweremadu booted out of the seat. A good number of them, especially within the Likemind group, would rather have him join the APC and continue in office.

    It was also gathered that talks are in top gear with the DSP by Senators sympathetic to him, with a view to get him to decamp into the ruling party as a way of getting him to remain in office. Sources confided that several meetings have been held between APC senators and the Ekweremadu camp.

    “It is no longer news that there are talks over the position of the Deputy Senate President. But it is not true for anybody to say we have agreed to impeach or remove Senator Ekweremadu from office. There are many options before us as we strive to achieve a united Senate as directed by our great party, the APC.

    “Impeachment is just one of such options. It is not the only or final thing to do. To many of us, Ekweremadu is an APC senator in PDP. I have had the opportunity of working with him closely as a senator. I can tell you he is a progressive who should be more at home with us in the ruling APC more than he currently is in the sinking PDP.

    “The situation we have on our hands now is one that we are hoping to eat our cake and still have it. We are optimistic that Ekweremadu will join us in the APC and retain his seat. That way, we will have the seat in the APC caucus without having to remove from office a Senator who has shown great capability to handle such a leadership position,” a source said.

    But there are also APC senators who want Ekweremadu out of the post. To these lawmakers, it will be difficult to trust a man who has spent more than 16 years as a PDP chieftain and most of that he spend as a Deputy Senate President on the platform of the same party. For this reason, the APC must enthrone one of its own in place of Ekweremadu.

    “Yes, I am aware of efforts to get him to decamp and remain in office. Like you said, it is an option for him. But my question is, is it an option for us as a party? I mean for us in APC. I will say no. Here is a man who has spent more than 16 years as a PDP chieftain and most of that he spend as a Deputy Senate President on the platform of the same party. In my opinion, APC must elect its own man into that position,” our source insisted.

    A fear foretold

    The Nation recalls that sacked Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, had warned against alleged sustained violations of parliamentary procedures, which he said manifested in his sudden removal, warning that Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu might be the next victim of the alleged disregard for rules.

    Ndume, who spoke against the background of an emerging realignment of forces intent on establishing the hegemony of the ruling APC in the leadership of the Senate, had only came short of telling the embattled Deputy Senate President to be prepared for a big fight if he intends to remain in  office much longer.

    Ndume spoke at plenary, following his sudden removal while raising Order 43 of the Senate Standing Rules in reaction to his removal without his fore knowledge. He said the Senate was a national institution whose sanctity must be protected by members, insisting that he had done nothing wrong to warrant such treatment.

    He said: Mr. President, I discussed with you before the sitting that sequel to the event that happened yesterday in my absence  I went to pray, there was a change in leadership, particularly affecting me and I felt it is important for me to be given the chance to defend myself. I was not found wanting for anything that I know and because the unity of this Senate is more important than myself, three times, I offered to resign if that would bring peace but I believe that God’s time is the best.

    “Having said that; I want to say that this Senate is an institution that we must protect. How you protect the institution is to obey the rules and the tradition. If today, just like that, without telling somebody and he goes out and he’s removed…If it is Ndume today and it’s ok. It may be, God forbid, Ekweremadu tomorrow.”

    Also, a member of the Senate Unity Forum, Senator Kabir Marafa, once affirmed that the only condition that would keep Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President was for him to defect to the ruling party. He enjoined the Deputy Senate President to save his seat and kindly pitch his ‎tent with the ruling APC.

    “I am using this medium now to tell the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, to please join the APC. It is when he says he is not joining the party that you can come back to say Ike has refused to join the APC; what are you going to do? I am using this medium now to call on Ike to join APC.

    “He has the golden opportunity because Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff have successfully, to our delight, caused a division in the PDP. We are always praying that their power tussle will continue. While I pray for Makarfi to have the upper hand, I am also praying for Sheriff to have the power and ability to sustain the fight, so that we (APC) will be taking the senators one by one.”

    Adding that the senate will be more stable once Ekweremadu defects, Marafa said the ruling party will become one in the Senate once the Deputy Senate President becomes a member. He added that many APC senators, who are sympathetic towards Ekweremadu, would rather have him join the party than move against his seat.

    “Then, I can tell you that the Senate will be stable and there won’t be any friction. The little issue we can then have may be due to human nature. You never can say that you will gather people and they will not disagree. I am telling you that he has the opportunity now. Let him just defect. The beauty of any political party is the people. If you can join us, join us. We want more people. Instead of moving against his seat, let him join us,” he said.