The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday blamed the All Progressives Congress (APC) of being behind the alleged threats to the life of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
According to the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, “some senators loyal to the leadership of the APC have among other things concocted a petition to the Nigerian Police”, alleging that “Ekweremadu altered the rules of the National Assembly to enable him emerge as Deputy President.
The PDP also alleged that the same group is involved in secret talks with some senior lawyers and a Judge, to obtain a court order restraining him from performing his duties.
However, in a swift reaction the APC said that it has nothing to do with the reported Police invitation of Ekweremadu.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said “it neither wrote a petition to the Police nor is it aware that any petition was written against the Deputy Senate President”
Mr Mohammed stated that if, as the PDP claims, the petition concerns alleged altering of the Senate’s standing rules on the process of electing presiding officers, it is a clear case of forgery which the Police has a duty to investigate.
He added that questioning the right of the Police to carry out its duties in this regard amounts to intimidating the security agency.
The Publicity Secretary further stated that “forgery is a crime that is being regularly investigated by the Police, and it beggars belief that such investigation will now be interpreted to mean that Nigeria is descending into dictatorship, or that democracy and the enjoyment of personal freedoms are now endangered”.
He also said that if indeed there is a petition against Senator Ekweremadu, he should gladly heed the invitation by the Police so he can clear his name, adding that ”no one is above the law”.
‘President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly said that at every point, the law must be supreme and everyone must respect the law, if the nation’s democratic system is to survive. Extrapolating a police invitation of anyone, no matter his status, to mean the onset of dictatorship is itself an invitation to lawlessness and anarchy, which permeated the long but ineffective rule of the PDP,” the party said.
