PDP raises the alarm over plot to arrest Ekweremadu

The PDP has said that the APC led government has perfected, and is about to carry out a plot to remove deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu from office by getting the police to invite him for questioning based on a petition by some senators.

The party stated that the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, had summoned Ekweremadu, over alleged forgery of the Senate Rules on election of its principal officers, and that he is expected to appear before a team of investigators at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Monday (today).

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said this at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday.

According to him, 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 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.”

Read also: APC targets Ekweremadu for impeachment

The Force Headquarters has however said that Ekweremadu was not singled out 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, “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.

“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.

Metuh however insisted at the Sunday briefing that Ekweremadu would be detained at the FHQ on Monday (today).

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.

The PDP spokesman said that part of the plot was a conspiracy to tarnish Ekweremadu’s image and open him to public ridicule.

However, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also said in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, that the APC had nothing to do with the decision of the police to invite Ekweremadu.
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