The Peoples Democratic Party on
Sunday said the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, had
summoned the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, over alleged
forgery of the Senate Rules on election of its principal officers.
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.
According to him, the police are
investigating a petition by a senator alleging a 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.
While Saraki belongs to the ruling All Progressives Congress, Ekweremadu is of the minority PDP.
The PUNCH learnt that the
invitation to the deputy senate president indeed followed a petition to
Arase by some senators, alleging forgery.
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 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.
“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.
He added, “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 APC on Sunday said it had nothing to do with the decision of the police to invite Ekweremadu.
National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in a statement in Abuja.
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