Tension Rises As Nigeria's Police Boss Summons Ekweremadu Over Alleged Forgery

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised an alarm over the reported invitation extended to the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase.

 

According to the party, Ekweremadu has been asked to report at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, Monday to answer questions on a petition said to have been filed against him by a group of senators detailing how he unilaterally tinkered with certain provisions of the Senate Standing Rules relating to the election of the President of the Senate and that of the Deputy.

 

The petitioners, according to The Nation, were said to have alleged that Ekweremadu had taken undue advantage of the slated rules to become the Deputy Senate President in the June 9 election of principal officers of the National Assembly.

 

But speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on Sunday, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh said the said amendment to the rule was effected by the bureaucracy of the National Assembly headed by the Clerk, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa.

 

Metuh said the invitation from the IGP was a build up to phantom charges with a view to arresting and incarcerating Ekweremadu, and thereby creating a vacuum in the Senate and pave the way for the imposition of a preferred APC senator to take his position.

 

The party accused curtain unnamed All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders of instigating the police action against Ekweremadu, adding that the party had uncovered threats to the life of the Deputy Senate President and other key leaders of the PDP.