SAN FRANCISCO, June 28, (THEWILL) – Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has written to the United Nations, European Union, United States’ Congress, European Union Parliament, Governments of United States, United Kingdom and other foreign missions, over his trial for alleged forgery of Senate standing rules.
Ekweremadu, on Tuesday, in a two-page document, entitled: “Re: Trumped up charges against the presiding officers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy is in Grave Danger,” also attached copies of the court summons and other relevant documents relating to the matter to his letter.
He insisted 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.
He alleged that there was an attempt to “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.”
He also noted that he wanted the international community, to “after perusing the facts before them, decide whether or not the trial was justified, or one purely borne out of political vendetta.”
The text of the letter reads: “You may further wish to judge for yourself whether this unfolding scenario, coupled with the clampdown on the opposition, such as targeted arrests and indefinite detention of opposition figures and dissenting voices in spite of court pronouncements and in clear violation of the Nigerian Constitution, as well as the sustained marginalisation of the South-east and South-south geopolitical zones of Nigeria, do not constitute a grave danger to the nation’s hard-won democracy.
“I wish to forward to you the court summons containing the trumped up charges preferred against my person; the President of the Senate, His Excellency, Senator Bukola Saraki, CON; and two others.
“I also wish to appeal to you 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 we appeared anywhere in these documents.
“You may, thereafter, judge for yourself whether the federal government, acting through the Attorney-General of the Federation, has any justification whatsoever to generate our names for trial.
“The list of the accused persons appear to have been politically generated because you cannot by the documents attached, relate any of our names to the offence for which we are now being charged.
“Moreover, the rules and principles of fair hearing have not been adhered to because the police have not interacted with neither me nor the President of the Senate as at the time of writing this letter.
“You may also wish to judge for yourself whether this trial orchestrated against me is not a political trial, calculated witch-hunt, barefaced intimidation, and a clear attempt to emasculate the parliament and silence me as the leader and highest ranking member of the opposition in Nigeria.
“Meanwhile, it would also be recalled that an attempt was made on my life on November 17, 2015. The Nigerian security agencies did nothing, even though the incident was duly reported. This is for your information and reflection.”
Story by David Oputah
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