Ekweremadu’s trial: PDP fumes, condemns APC chairman

– The PDP has condemned comments by APC chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, ‎against the emergence of Ike Ekweremadu as deputy Senate president

– Spokesman of the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee of the PDP said the APC has no constitutional right to be displeased with Ekweremadu’s emergence

– The PDP said Ekweremadu’s continued persecution was the height of duplicity and it was inexcusable in a democracy

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticized the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government over the ongoing trial of the deputy Senate president‎, Ike Ekweremadu.

Ekweremadu is being tried alongside the Senate president, Bukola Saraki and two others for alleged forgery of the 2015 Senate standing rules.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, July 12, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the spokesman of the national caretaker committee led by Ahmed Makarfi, described the trial as harassment of the accused persons, Daily Trust reports.

READ ALSO: Senate forgery trial: PDP warns FG, APC tells Ekweremadu what to do

Adeyeye said the National Assembly was a separate arm ‎of government created by the constitution and cautioned the federal government against interfering with its affairs.

He recalled that the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari had commended the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal when he defected from the PDP to APC in 2014 and still retained his position as speaker.

The statement read: “The APC as a party, and through its chieftains, including President Muhammadu Buhari before his election, had variously and robustly ‎defended the constitutionality and imperativeness of bi-partisan ‎legislative leadership during the defection of the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, to their fold while in ‎opposition without relinquishing his position.

“We, therefore, invite the APC-led federal government to tell the world ‎why bi-partisan leadership in the legislature was good in the instances ‎of Tambuwal as well as the Benue and Plateau assemblies, but an ‎abomination in the case of Senator Ekweremadu.

READ ALSO: Why presidency could stop forgery trial of Saraki, Ekweremadu

“We consider APC’s stance on Ekweremadu and his continued persecution on ‎this account as the height of duplicity, intolerance, unwarranted and inexcusable executive excesses in a democracy.”

The PDP said Ekweremadu was not APC’s stumbling block.

Ekweremadu and Senate President Bukola Saraki are being tried for alleged forgery of the rules of the eighth Senate.

At the weekend, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the national chairman of the APC, was quoted to have said the emergence of Ekweremadu as deputy Senate president rankled his party and they found it very, very difficult to accept him.

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