The forgery charges preferred against presiding officers of the Senate assumed a new dimension yesterday as Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu wrote to the United Nations and other foreign missions over his trial at an FCT High Court.
The letter dated June 28, 2016 was titled: “Re: Trumped up charges against the presiding officers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy is in Grave Danger.”
Here are 8 powerful points as contained in the letter:
1. The Deputy Senate President alleged 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.”
2. He said that neither his name nor that of the Senate President featured in the petition filed by the aggrieved members of the Senate Unity Forum (SUF) or during the investigation of the petition by the police.
3. He appealed to the bodies (UN,US, others) 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 his name or that of accused others appeared anywhere in the documents.
4. Ekweremadu noted that the federal government has no justification whatsoever to generate ‘our names for trial.’
5. He noted that the rules and principles of fair hearing have not been adhered to because the police have not interacted with him or the President of the Senate as at the time of writing the letter.
6. The trial according to him was orchestrated to witch-hunt him and some other members of the 8th senate.
7. Ekweremadu also stated that an attempt was made on his life on November 17, 2015. An incident he claims the Nigerian security did nothing about even though it was duly reported.
8. He alleged what he described as a ‘sustained marginalisation of the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones of Nigeria.’
The letter dated June 28, 2016 was titled: “Re: Trumped up charges against the presiding officers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy is in Grave Danger.”
Here are 8 powerful points as contained in the letter:
1. The Deputy Senate President alleged 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.”
2. He said that neither his name nor that of the Senate President featured in the petition filed by the aggrieved members of the Senate Unity Forum (SUF) or during the investigation of the petition by the police.
3. He appealed to the bodies (UN,US, others) 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 his name or that of accused others appeared anywhere in the documents.
4. Ekweremadu noted that the federal government has no justification whatsoever to generate ‘our names for trial.’
5. He noted that the rules and principles of fair hearing have not been adhered to because the police have not interacted with him or the President of the Senate as at the time of writing the letter.
6. The trial according to him was orchestrated to witch-hunt him and some other members of the 8th senate.
7. Ekweremadu also stated that an attempt was made on his life on November 17, 2015. An incident he claims the Nigerian security did nothing about even though it was duly reported.
8. He alleged what he described as a ‘sustained marginalisation of the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones of Nigeria.’
