Ekweremadu to UN, US, UK, others: Nigeria's democracy in danger

Ekweremadu to UN, US, UK, others: Nigeria's democracy in danger

Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ek­weremadu, has written to the United Nations, United States’ Congress, European Un­ion (EU) Parliament, govern­ments of United States, United Kingdom and other foreign mis­sions, over what he described as an attempt to truncate Nigeria’s democracy and silence him as the leader and highest ranking member of the opposition in the country, all in the name of pros­ecuting an alleged forgery case.

In a two-page letter, ti­tled: “Re: Trumped Up Charg­es Against the Presiding Offic­ers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy is in Grave Danger,” a copy of which was sighted by this paper, Ekweremadu, who at­tached copies of the court sum­mons, and other relevant docu­ments, relating to the matter, to his letter, wants the international community, to after perusing the facts before them, decide wheth­er or not the trial was justified, or one purely borne out of po­litical vendetta.

While insisting that neither his name nor that of the Presi­dent of the Senate featured either in the petition by the aggrieved members of the Senate Unity Fo­rum (SUF) or during the investi­gation of the petition by the po­lice, the Deputy President of the Senate, further said:

“You may further wish to judge for yourself whether this unfolding scenario, coupled with the clampdown on the op­position, such as targeted ar­rests and indefinite detention of opposition figures and dis­senting voices in spite of court pronouncements and in clear vi­olation of the Nigerian consti­tution, as well as the sustained marginalization of the South East and South-South geopolit­ical zones of Nigeria, does not c

onstitute a grave danger to the nation’s hard-won democracy.”

The letter reads in part: “I wish to forward to you the court summons containing the trumped up charges preferred against my person; the Presi­dent of the Senate, His Excellen­cy, Senator Bukola Saraki, CON and two others.

“I also wish to appeal to you to kindly find time to read through the annexures- petition by members of the Senate Uni­ty Forum, statements by persons interrogated, and the police re­port- to see if we appeared any­where in these documents.

“You may, thereafter, judge for yourself whether the Federal Government, acting through the Attorney-General of the Federa­tion, has any justification what­soever to generate our names for trial. The list of the accused per­sons appear to have been politi­cally generated because you can­not by the documents attached, relate any of our names to the of­fence for which we are now be­ing charged.

“Moreover, the rules and principles of fair hearing have not been adhered to because the police have not interacted with me or the President of the Senate as at the time of writing this letter.

“You may also wish to judge for yourself whether this trial or­chestrated against me is not a political trial, calculated witch-hunt, barefaced intimidation, and a clear attempt to emascu­late the parliament and silence me as the leader and highest ranking member of the opposi­tion in Nigeria.

“Meanwhile, it would also be recalled that an attempt was made on my life on November 17, 2015. The Nigerian securi­ty agencies did nothing, even though the incident was duly re­ported. This is for your infor­mation and reflection.