The Deputy President of the Senate, Federal Republic of
Nigeria, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has described his trial alongside the Senate
President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and two other senior members of the National
Assembly (NASS) staff over an alleged forgery of document to facilitate their
emergence of current leadership of the Red Chamber as democracy on trial,
reports ITRealms.
Reacting after appearing and pleading not guilty amongst
others, the deputy president of Senate said he presented myself to the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Monday, June 27, 2016, as an ordinary
citizen of this great nation to plead ‘not guilty’ to charges he did not and
could not have committed.
As said by him in a press statement sighted by ITRealms,
there is deeply troubling to note that people in high places who swore to
uphold the law, have dwindled into purveyors of falsehood and rumours who seek
to smear and tarnish the reputation of law abiding and responsible citizens as
well as cripple the hallowed institutions of democracy.
“It is all the more disheartening that people who should
know better use the colour of their office to pursue private vendetta against
people they disagree with,” he said.
Ekweremadu said this grotesque display of vindictiveness,
arrogance, and mindless targeting of innocent citizens should find no sanctuary
in Nigeria’s democracy, stressing that using the machinery of justice to create
disorder is a dangerous and invidious scheme that ultimately will lead Nigeria
down the road to perdition.
“It is Senator Bukola Saraki and Senator Ike Ekweremadu
today, who knows whose turn it will be next?,” he asked, wondering that as a law-abiding
citizen and believer in the rule of law and all the rights and privileges it
advertises, that its only in his place not to commit crime, but way out of his reach
not to be accused of one, especially when instruments of power become
apparatuses for oppression of the innocent and voices of opposition.
Senator Ekweremadu pointed out that he does not claim to be
above the law, just that he believes that the law should not be used as an
instrument to bludgeon innocent citizens into submitting to the untamed wishes
and caprices of witch-hunters.
“However, I put my trust in God, the court, and the
overwhelming solidarity of the good people of Nigeria. When the dust settles,
Nigerians will see clearly that this charge is nothing but meretricious thrash.
Time, occasions, and provocations like this will teach their own lessons. I
hope that one chief lesson will be that democracy differs markedly from
military rule and that public officer should never subvert the foundations of
democracy by prioritizing the rule of man over the rule of law,” he said.
The Deputy Senate President warned that Nigerias that to
make no mistake about this trail, because it is not Senator Ike Ekweremadu or
Senator Bukola Saraki or the other accused persons that are on trial; rather
the hallowed democratic principles of separation of powers, rule of law, the
legislature, and indeed democracy itself are on a ridiculous trial.
Mere anarchy is unleashed upon the land, but our courage
must not fall apart. No condition is permanent and nothing lasts forever.
“For me, I find great comfort in the immortal words of late
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who said that history will vindicate the just and the wicked
will not go unpunished,” Ekweremadu said.
Pix: Senate Deputy President, Ekweremadu
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