Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has written the United Nations,<\/p>\n
European Union and the United States alerting them of the threat posed to
\ndemocratic rule in Nigeria by the undemocratic practices of the President
\nBuhari-led government.<\/p>\n
In a two-page letter entitled: Re: Trumped Up Charges Against the
\nPresiding Officers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy in Grave Danger”,
\nraised alarm over attempt by the government to silence him and the
\nopposition in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The letter\u2026<\/p>\n
The letter In the two-page letter, entitled: \u201cRe: Trumped Up Charges
\nAgainst the Presiding Officers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy is in
\nGrave Danger,\u201d Ekweremadu, who attached copies of the court summons, and
\nother relevant documents relating to the matter, is asking the
\ninternational community to decide whether or not the trial was worth it,
\njustifiable or one that was purely borne out of political vendetta.
\nEkweremadu stated that neither his name nor that of the President of the
\nSenate featured either in the petition by aggrieved members of the Senate
\nUnity Forum, SUF, or during the investigation of the petition by the
\npolice.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may further wish to judge for yourself whether this unfolding
\nscenario, coupled with the clampdown on the opposition, such as targeted
\narrests and indefinite detention of opposition figures and dissenting
\nvoices, in spite of court pronouncements and in clear violation of the
\nNigerian constitution, as well as the sustained marginalization of the
\nSouth-East and South-South geopolitical zones of Nigeria, does not
\nconstitute a grave danger to the nation\u2019s hard-won democracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish to forward to you the court summons containing the trumped-up
\ncharges preferred against my person, the President of the Senate, Senator
\nBukola Saraki, CON; and two others. \u201cI also wish to appeal to you to
\nkindly find time to read through the annexures\u2014 petition by members of the
\nSenate Unity Forum, statements by persons interrogated, and the police
\nreport\u2014 to see if our names appeared anywhere in these documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may, thereafter, judge for yourself whether the Federal Government,
\nacting through the Attorney-General of the Federation, has any
\njustification whatsoever to generate our names for trial. The list of the
\naccused persons appears to have been politically generated because you
\ncannot by the documents attached, relate any of our names to the offence
\nfor which we are now being charged.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoreover, the rules and principles of fair-hearing have not been adhered
\nto because the police have not interacted with me or the President of the
\nSenate as at the time of writing this letter. \u201cYou may also wish to judge
\nfor yourself whether this trial orchestrated against me is not a political
\ntrial, calculated witch-hunt, barefaced intimidation, and a clear attempt
\nto emasculate the parliament and silence me as the leader and highest
\nranking member of the opposition in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeanwhile, it could also be recalled that an attempt was made on my life
\non November 17, 2015. The Nigerian security agencies did nothing, even
\nthough the incident was duly reported,\u2019\u2019 he lamented.<\/p>\n
The Presidency has said it would not exchange words with Ekweremadu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has written the United Nations, European Union and the United States alerting them of the threat posed to democratic rule in Nigeria by the undemocratic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n