– APC desperate to quench opposition –PDP
Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has been quizzed by the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC), this medium has learnt.
The lawmaker was said to have arrived at the anti-graft agency’s office in Abuja between 9-10:00 a.m.
yesterday.
“He is currently at the interrogation room,” an EFCC staff said, adding that he could not say when he would be released.
“We have some questions for him bordering on corruption but we do not know yet when he would be released, we will know this by 5:00 p.m,” the source stressed.
Ekweremadu, the most-senior member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in public office, was invited for questioning last week Tuesday.
The invitation became public hours after EFCC operatives laid a siege to the top lawmaker’s home at Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja.
He has faced multiple allegations of sharp practices in recent years, including claims that he forged Senate standing rules which led to the controversial election of principal officers in June 2015.
He has also been accused of owning multiple properties abroad, some allegedly purchased using shell firms and political associates fronting for him, allegations which the lawmaker strongly denied, saying alleging political persecution and daring anyone with evidence of sharp practices against him to come forward.
His spokesperson, Uche Anichukwu, did not immediately have comments for Blueprint about the development, saying he was “boarding” a flight, just as Wilson Uwujaren, a spokesperson for the EFCC, said he would need some time to find out details of Ekweremadu’s presence at the antigraft office when a call was put across to him.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has decried the harassment of Ike Ekweremadu, as disturbing.
PDP in a statement yesterday, through its spokesperson Kola Ologbondiyan also accused the federal government of misusing the anti-graft and security agencies close to the 2019 general election, stressing that such posed a grave threat to the nation’s democracy.
The party stated that “Just a few days after the EFCC and over 200 policemen practically held Senator Ekweremadu hostage to prevent the defection of All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators to the PDP, the EFCC has continued to harass Senator Ike Ekweremadu to cover its shame.”
