Last week, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu set out to act what typifies a Nollywood film by causing the publication of a so-called “attempt to assassinate him.” Ekweremadu in a statement by his media aide, Uche Anichukwu said the attempt occurred at about 10:00am between Apo Flyover and Dantata Construction Company’s yard, close to the Old Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Headquarters junction on his way to the National Assembly.
He claimed the suspected assassins operated in an unmarked, tinted, brand new, white-coloured Mercedez Benz AMG E63 and were chauffeured by a man who looked like a Middle-belter.
According to his aide: “The vehicle, which was positioned by the Apo Bridge, on noticing that the Deputy President of the Senate’s convoy took the right turn to join the Nnamdi Azikiwe expressway instead, made a turn and attempted to ram into the convoy, but was blocked.
“The driver, however, sped off to the Apo Roundabout and on sighting the convoy of the Deputy President of the Senate, violently broke into the convoy and made several frantic attempts to ram into the Senator’s official car,” the statement reads
He said the development had already been reported to the security agencies. What has been the outcome of the investigations? Nigerians would want to know because this is a country where people would arrange for their kidnap to give certain impressions to certain people.
The story appears well scripted by the Ekweremadu but has some loopholes. For instance, the Senate President has a police escort with guns attached to him for his protection. Were they not in the convoy where a car made several efforts to ram into his car? What were the policemen with guns doing? Were they also watching the movie or were they under instruction not to apprehend the intruders? Without being a policeman you do not need any formal training to be able to apprehend the intruders referred to as “assassins” in the Ekweremadu story line.
What is needed is to fire the tires of the intruders if they really were and they would be demobilised and arrested like rats and made to confess who sent them to assassinate the Deputy Senate President. Did the policemen attached to Ekweremadu claim that anybody prevented them from apprehending the suspected assassins? This gives away the alarm as a cock and bull story that has no merit whatsoever except the commencement of a cheap blackmail against the ruling party.
Again, to say that the suspected assassins driver was dressed in clothes like persons from the middle belt presupposes that northerners want to eliminate an Ibo man who is the nation’s number 5 citizen. Again, this fabrication does not hold water because it only seems to whip up ethnic sentiments that some Nigerians would gullibly fall for. Interestingly, this could be read in between the lines of the press statement of Ohanaeze Ndigbo youths.
To lend credence to this line of reasoning, twenty four hours after Ekweremadu flew the kite, his kinsmen, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase to ensure a thorough investigation into the alleged attack on the Deputy Senate President. The President of the Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, raised an alarm that “the highest Igbo political office holder is being hunted for elimination, warning that killing of the Deputy Senate President portends danger for the country.
According to them, any harm on Ekweremadu amounted to a declaration of war against Ndigbo which must be resisted at all costs. They also said they were prepared to provide security for their son to ensure his safety. Haba Ekweremadu! What a character in this Nollywood movie. He has positioned the youths of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to pick up the false alarm from where he let it off. This kind of mess happens only in a country like Nigeria. Ekweremadu is positioning as the mouth piece and leader of Ndigbo and possibly positioning for Igbo presidency. otherwise why would he embark on this intellectual voyage of scripting this movie?
Who wants the life of Ekweremadu? Why would anybody want to kill him? Since the APC government took over from the clueless PDP administration, how many people have been assassinated in Nigeria? Ekweremadu is only making mountains out of mole hill for nothing. He is just on an expedition of cheap blackmail against a party he is reaping from without sowing.
Ekweremadu needs to be thoroughly investigated by the Inspector General of Police. Who knows the financiers of the Biafra proponents on daily protests in the streets of Ibo land? Why the sudden escalation of the agitation for Biafra few weeks into the coming on board of the APC federal government? Nigerians must keep a watch on Ike Ekweremadu. He certainly have something up his sleeves.
What he seems not to be taking into account is the fact that his emergence as Deputy Senate President is an aberration. More so, when in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and politically budding society like Nigeria where power sharing among members of a wining party remains one way of assuaging all segments of the society. What happened with the emergence of Ike Ekweremadu has never happened before in our political history but Ekweremadu is carrying on as if he does not know that he is dressed in borrowed robes.
Granted that the election of principal officers of the Senate is a function of members, you just cannot rule out or undermine the party in power in determining what happens in the Senate or House of Representatives. A member from minority party anywhere in the world cannot assume one of the highest positions in the house from the blast of the whistle
He has proved himself a desperate man. It was not much of a surprise he was alleged to have been involved in forging Senate House rules that led to his emergence as Deputy Senate President. Nigerians cannot be fooled with his gimmicks. We already know him from his antecedents. Who knows which trick he would pull next in what may come as Act 1 scene 2?
Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State
