Forgery Suit against Saraki, Ekweremadu Aimed at Crippling the Senate, Says Group

By Christopher Isiguzo

The forgery suit initiated by the Federal Government against Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his Deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has been described as a witch-hunt with the intention of not only embarrassing the National Assembly leaders but to also silence the opposition, and cripple the institution of the Senate.

A pro-democracy group, Centre for the Advancement of Literacy and Leadership (CALL), in a statement signed by the Executive Director of the Centre, Mazi Bismarck Oji, and made available to newsmen in Enugu, also described the recently reported letter by the police inviting Ekweremadu and some leaders of the last Senate for interrogation over alleged forgery of Senate Standing Orders 2011 as mischievous.

The group recalled that the Assistant Force Public Relations Officer (AFPRO), Mr. Abayomi Shogunle, had told newsmen at the Force Headquarters on July 6, 2015, that although the police team met with the ex-Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr. Salisu Maikasuwa, they neither invited nor interrogated Senator Ekweremadu.

It therefore noted that since the police had earlier denied inviting or interrogating Ekweremadu, while the Federal Government also backed its charges against the duo with an affidavit of completion of investigation deposed to at the Federal High Court Registry, Abuja, dated 10th June 2016, it was “a clear case of witch-hunt, mischief, and a legal contradiction” to want to invite Ekweremadu and other persons for interrogation when the Federal Government had already filed charges based on the police report.

Further details later