“Nothing Untoward Should Befall Ekweremadu”

Members of the Greater Awgu Forum(GAF) a socio-political organization envisioned to articulate and project the political interests of Greater Awgu people, met on November 23, 2015 in Enugu and reviewed the political situation in Nigeria, especially the assassination attempt on the Deputy President of the Senate, and Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Distinguished Senator Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, CFR.

The dastardly attempt has no doubt added yet another disturbing dimension to the desperation to get rid of the senator from the constitutional position he occupies by “all means”.

Given the unnecessary political heat Senator Ekweremadu’s emergence has generated in the polity since June 9, 2015, culminating in the latest development, GAF wishes to recall that:

1. The re-election of Sen. Ekweremadu on June 9, as the Deputy President of the 8^th Senate, is in consonance with section 50 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). It was based on this basis that the APC defended the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and educated members of the public when he defected to the All Progressive Congress(APC) without relinquishing the speakership to the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP). The APC lawmakers were also elected as the current Speakers of the Benue and Plateau States House of Assembly where they are the minority party.

1. Despite the fact that Ekweremadu emerged constitutionally, transparently, and credibly, the APC has neither hidden their hatred for the revered Senator nor their declared determination to remove him. For instance, speaking on Ekweremadu’s emergence, an APC chieftain and current Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Dr.Chris Ngige told some national dailies in June 2015 that “There are many ways to kill a rat; you can decide to go and kill it manually, you can go and put it in hot water, and you can use poison- Gamalin”.

1. The APC have also deployed various means including unsubstantiated allegation of forgery of Senate Standing Rule 2015, lawsuit, etc. in a desperate bid to dislodge him.

1. Some APC Senators, namely Ahmad Lawan, Suleiman Hunkuyi, Oluremi Tinubu, Abu Ibrahim, Sola Adeyeye, and George Akume demonstrated the height of spite, hate, and parliamentary irresponsibility when they staged a walkout on Senator Ekweremadu while he presided over the Senate on Wednesday, November 11, 2015. They also issued a statement where they vowed to “cease to attend any sitting presided over by the PDP in an APC majority chamber of the Eight Senate.” Instructively, this number includes Senator Akume in whose State, Benue, the APC minority produced the Speaker of the State House of Assembly!

1. At a meeting of the APC Senators, Senator Oluremi Tinubu was quoted to have declared herself as “the incoming DSP in the 8^th Senate”. And of all the seats in the Senate, including the empty ones, Tinubu took over the seat of the same man she so much despises and hates, just a day after the assassination attempt on Senator Ekweremadu.

In view of the foregoing and considering the enormous socio-political dislocations such assassination or elimination would bear on Nigeria, GAF declares as follows:

1. That Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, CFR is a Senator of the Federal Republic, elected with an overwhelming mandate of his people and has remained one of Nigeria’s brightest lawmakers who enjoys the confidence of his colleagues; on account of which he was re-elected the Deputy President of the Senate for a record third time.
2. That Sen. Ekweremadu’s re-election into that position did not violate any known regulations of the Senate Standing Rules or the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and therefore should be respected by the APC.
3. We, therefore, condemn in totality the unpatriotic and hypocritical attitude of the APC, which for reasons of political expediency and pecuniary gains are bent on intimidating and removing him from office even after they have enjoyed and defended bipartisan legislative leadership in the person of Hon. Tambuwal and continue to do so in Benue and Plateau States.
4. That we condemn in the strongest terms this attempt on the life of our illustrious son, Sen. Ekweremadu. Evidently, we cannot sit and watch those who do not mean well for Ekweremadu and the Igbo nation as they take politics to an inconceivable level of assassination, especially in Nigeria with ugly records of a litany of unresolved political assassinations.
5. Eliminating Ekweremadu by “all means”, including assassination, is grave and counterproductive as it holds ramifying consequences for Nigeria’s political stability and corporate existence.
6. We urge the federal government and it’s security agencies, especially the Police and the DSS, to immediately unravel those behind the dastardly act. Emphatically, GAF will not accept the traditional lame-duck and lackadaisical approach to investigations in an assassination attempt on Sen.Ike Ekweremadu. We are shocked that they are yet to avail Nigerians of any preliminary findings on this matter. This is indeed a disturbing scenario of absurdity.
7. In an event that the child dies in the morning (God forbid) after the witch has cried for several nights, let it be known that the world knows whom to hold responsible

Signed on this 23^rd Day of November in the year of our Lord, 2015.

Chief Cletus Akalusi(Kwashy) Hon. Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia

Okeosisi Ugbo
National Secretary National President.
For and on behalf of Greater Awgu Forum (GAF)