The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has told the Federal Government to fight
\ncorruption and stop hounding members of the opposition parties.<\/p>\n
The party frowned at the Motion Exparte filed by the Special Presidential
\nInvestigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property seeking the
\nforfeiture of assets allegedly not declared by the Deputy President of the
\nSenate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, alleging plots to silence the opposition.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola
\nOlogbodiyan, on Thursday, the party said that while the PDP was in full
\nsupport of any genuine anti-graft war, the All Progressives Congress (APC)-
\nled administrations obsession with Ekweremadu was another clear indication
\nthat it was not ready to fight corruption, but rather out to scandalise,
\npersecute, and bring down its perceived opponents.<\/p>\n
It said: The PDP recalls that this government rushed to arraign Senator
\nEkweremadu and the Senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki in 2016 on trumped
\nup charges of forgery of Senate Standing Rule, even when there was not even
\na mention of their names in the contentious police report or Proof of
\nEvidence. It eventually withdrew the charges for lack of merit.<\/p>\n
The police raided and ransacked Senator Ekweremadus official guest house
\nin Abuja in May 2017 and blamed it on false whistleblowers, whom they
\ncharged to court. Nothing has been heard about the trial of the alleged
\nfalse whistleblowers again.<\/p>\n
In the current matter, apart from relying on an obsolete law to dabble
\ninto the roles of the Code of Conduct Bureau, we are not surprised that the
\nPanel could not carry out a thorough and independent investigation on the
\npurported property of the senator, but relied on a petition by the former
\nChief Judge of Enugu State, Justice Innocent Umezulike, who is standing
\ncorruption trial in several courts, after his removal from office by the
\nNational Judicial Council (NJC) in 2017.<\/p>\n
“We recall that the senator accused Umezulike and some politicians of
\nstealing and doctoring his will, inserting non-existent properties or
\nproperties that had nothing to do with him.<\/p>\n
It is also instructive that this calculated smear campaign is in the guise
\nof forfeiture of phantom assets came on the heels of Senator Ekweremadus
\nalarm and scathing criticism of the APC-led administration over the
\nnations deteriorating democracy and in the midst of the ongoing
\nexecutive-legislature faceoff, in which a ranking senator of the APC
\nextraction identified Ekweremadu as a pillar of support to the Senate
\nPresident.<\/p>\n
The PDP said that contrary to the Federal Government’s claims, Senator
\nEkweremadu had assured it that he declared his assets.<\/p>\n
It wondered why the Federal Government, by its own admission, rushed to
\ncourt without completion of investigation, but had turned deaf ears to the
\noutcry by Nigerians for the prosecution of the administrations
\nfunctionaries and friends indicted of corruption.<\/p>\n
This government and party have a wet appetite for prosecution and media
\ntrial of the opposition while investigation is on, but refuses to prosecute
\nits members and friends indicted by even its own presidential or
\nministerial panels.<\/p>\n
While members of the opposition are taken to court on stretchers, the
\nformer Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engr. Babachir Lawal,
\nindicted by both the Senate and a presidential panel only got a pat on the
\nback.<\/p>\n
“The APC Federal Government has failed to prosecute those involved in the
\nIkoyigate scandal, and the recall of fugitive Abdulrasheed Maina, among
\nothers.<\/p>\n
Ekweremadu is a major symbol of the opposition. We believe that this is
\npart of the grand plan to strangulate the PDP ahead of the 2019 elections
\nand we will resist it added.<\/p>\n
The PDP further alleged that Ekweremadus travail was part of the grand
\nplan to strangulate the opposition ahead of 2019 election and challenged
\nthe Federal Government to publish the assets of APC political office
\nholders.<\/p>\n
Now that the Federal Government has gleefully inundated the public with
\nthe imaginary assets of the Deputy Senate president, can it now also
\npublish the full assets of the President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President
\nYemi Osinbanjo, cabinet ministers and APC governors, who have all failed to
\nmake public their assets as promised during the 2015 election<\/p>\n
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has told the Federal Government to fight corruption and stop hounding members of the opposition parties. The party frowned at the Motion Exparte filed by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n