– Senators from the southeast allege that Senator Ndume is spearheading the EFCC investigation against Ike Ekweremadu in order to unseat the Senate leadership
– The group faults the lawmaker for allegedly suggesting that the anti-graft agency is treating the deputy Senate president with kid gloves
– NASS leadership to meet Tuesday, August 7
Senators from the southeast have accused Senator Ali Ndume, some other All Progressives Congress senators and cabals of being responsible for the travails the deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, is facing at the hands of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The southeast lawmakers in a statement on Monday, August 6, criticised Ndume for allegedly suggesting that the agency was treating Ekweremadu with kid gloves.
The group said such utterances was a clear indication that Ndume along with some APC senators and cabals, is spearheading the EFCC investigation against the deputy Senate president in order to to unseat the Senate leadership.
The statement read in part: “We have closely watched events around the National Assembly, especially the ruthless attempts to emasculate the opposition and unseat the Senate leadership by all means possible.
“We have also followed the ongoing investigation by the EFCC of the allegations levelled against the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu. Despite our doubts, we have maintained our calm, hoping that the law will take its natural cause to vindicate the innocent.
“However, like every responsible and patriotic Nigerian, we have every reason to worry after reading the comments by Senator Ali Ndume, claiming that the EFCC is treating Ekweremadu with kid gloves. He canvassed Ekweremadu’s detention and indictment by the agency in spite of the obvious ill health of Senator Ekweremadu.”
The southeast group also alleged that Ndume’s latest comments indicates he played an active role in the July 24 blockade of the official residences of Saraki and Ekweremadu by security agencies in Abuja.
“Indeed, reading Senator Ndume’s comments clears every doubt that himself and some other All Progressives Congress senators and cabals are behind the ordeal of the Deputy Senate President and that this investigation has to do with the remorseless efforts to unseat the Senate leadership,” the lawmakers said.
The group warned that those instigating the EFCC against Senator Ekweremadu would be held responsible should anything happen to the senator.
However, Ndume has said he would respond to the allegations on Tuesday, August 7, when he speaks with journalists.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the National Assembly will meet on Tuesday, August 7, over the possible reconvening of the federal legislature to consider some national issues.
The National Assembly leadership comprises both the Senate and the House of Representatives. TRACK NEWS gathered that the meeting, is slated for noon tomorrow, which would be followed by another meeting with the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) led by its chairman, Prof Mahmud Yakubu.
The leadership of the two chambers have come under intense pressure to reconvene the federal legislature over certain issues.
