Alleged forgery: Ekweremadu writes UN, US, EU others
Alleged forgery: Ekweremadu writes UN, US, EU others
The forgery charges preferred against presiding officers of the Senate has assumed a new dimension, as Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has written to the United Nations and other foreign missions over his trial at an FCT High Court.
Other foreign missions that also received the letter include the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, United States’ Congress and European Union Parliament.
In a letter dated June 28, 2016, the Deputy Senate President raised the alarm over what he described as 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.”
The two-page letter titled: “Re: Trumped up charges against the presiding officers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy is in Grave Danger,” attached copies of the court summons and other documents relating to the matter.
The Deputy Senate President was docked on Monday alongside three others at an FCT high court in Abuja over forgery of the Senate Rule.
He insisted that neither his name nor that of the President of the Senate, 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.
According to Ekweremadu, the trial was “borne out of political vendetta.”
The letter reads in part: “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 our 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 me or 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 to 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 could 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”.