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Tag: Ike Ekweremadu

  • Ekweremadu: Police investigate alleged assassination attempt

    Ekweremadu: Police investigate alleged assassination attempt

    The Nigeria Police Force said it had commenced investigation on the alleged assassination attempt on Deputy President of the Senate Ike Ekweremadu.

    The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that Ekweremadu, his wife and son, allegedly escaped assassination attempt at their Apo residence in Abuja in the early hours of Tuesday.

    NAN also report that Ekweremadu had narrowly escaped an alleged attempt on his life in Abuja on Nov. 17, 2015.

    Acting DCP Jimoh Moshood, the Force Public Relations Officer disclosed this while addressing newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Moshood explained that the incidence was a burglary and not an assassination attempt.

    The spokesman said that similar incident also took place at the residence of Haliru Adamu, a neighbour of the deputy president.

    “Investigation so far carried out in the incident does not have any link to assignation attempt,” he said.

    He said that one of the suspects, Mohammed Yusuf who was arrested by the police was in police custody and had made useful statements.

    “The suspect has been assisting the police in the investigation into the matter. We have intensified efforts to arrest other suspects who escaped from the crime scene,” he said.

    He said that Ekweremadu and Adamu have made statements to the police in respect of the incident.

    Moshood said that Adamu lost his cell phones and jewelries to the thieves while nothing was reportedly stolen from Ekweremadu’s house.

    In a related development, the Police have arrested 20 suspects in connection with cattle rustling, kidnapping, armed robbery and forgery around Katsina state.

    The suspects are : Labe Wada, Lawal Wada, Labaran Ilyasu, Haruna Idris, Lawal Suberu, Ilyasu Ibrahim, Jamila Aliyu, Usman Abdullahi, Sada Bala, Osuji Stephen, Abdulkadir Ilya among others.

    The force spokesman, DCP Jimoh Moshood disclosed that items recovered from the suspects included: four Ak 47, one Ak 49, one locally-made revolver, four Ak 47 magazines, one unregistered motorcycle, ammunition and three forged cheques.

    Moshood said that all the suspects who were arrested by the IGP Special Strike Force, have confessed to the various roles they played in the commission of the crimes.

    The spokesman said that the suspects would be arraigned in court on completion of investigation into the matter.

    He said that IGP Ibrahim Idris has directed all Assistant Inspectors General of police to beef up security in their areas of responsibilities.

    NAN

  • Assassination: Ekweremadu narrates ordeal

    Assassination: Ekweremadu narrates ordeal

    After escaping an assassination attempt on Tuesday morning, Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has narrated his ordeal with the assailants.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Ekweremadu narrated his ordeal at Senate plenary, revealing that he called the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, without getting through to him.

    “I called the IGP and other security agencies, their phones were switched off. The assailants left in a hurry and left some of their weapons. I fear for my life. This country is no longer safe,” the Senate Deputy President said.

    According to Special Adviser to the Senate Deputy President on Media, Mr. Uche Anichukwu, who made the incident known, “The armed men discreetly evaded the security at Ekweremadu’s Apo Quarters residence, to gain entry into his house”.

    Wife of Ekweremadu, Nwanneka Ekweremadu, and one of his sons were in the house at the time of the attack.

    According to Anichukwu, “It was at the Senator’s bedroom that a struggle ensued, leading to the arrest of one of the assailants with dangerous weapons and housebreaking devices, while the rest managed to escape”.

    The arrested member of the gang has, however, refused to divulge any information on the operation and has been handed over to the police.

    Meanwhile, following the incident, Senate President Bukola Saraki said “The security situation in the FCT is quite unfortunate. It is even more disturbing how poor the response by the Nigerian Police was”.

    “We hope that the police are not being partisan in the way they treat cases. I hope the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police will find out exactly what happened so that they can ensure that this kind of thing does not happen again.

    “We will continue to do our best to see how we can address the security situation in this country and see what we can do to give the security agencies all our support,” he further stated.

     

  • Ekweremadu, family escape assassination

    Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife, Nwanneka Ekweremadu and son on Tuesday morning escaped an assassination attempt.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the Senate Deputy President escaped the assassination attempt at his Abuja residence.

    According to a statement by Mr. Uche Anichukwu, Special Adviser to the Senate Deputy President on Media, “The armed men discreetly evaded the security at Ekweremadu’s Apo Quarters residence, to gain entry into his house”.

    The statement reads: “The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife, and son escaped an assassination attempt at about 4am on Tuesday.

    “The armed men discreetly evaded the security at Ekweremadu’s Apo Quarters residence, to gain entry into his house.

    “The attackers, who could not immediately shoot in order not to attract the attention of the security personnel on duty, took hold of his son, and commanded him to lead them the Senator’s bedroom.

    “It was at the Senator’s bedroom that a struggle ensued, leading to the arrest of one of the assailants with dangerous weapons and housebreaking devices, while the rest managed to escape.

    “The arrested member of the gang has, however, refused to divulge any information on the operation and has been handed over to the police.

    “Ekweremadu, his wife, and one of his sons were in the house at the time of the attack.

    “It could be recalled that the lawmaker narrowly escaped an attempt on his life in Abuja on November 17, 2015.

    “Although the 2015 incident was reported to the security agencies, nothing has been heard about the matter till date”.

     

  • 2019: Saraki, Ekweremadu, Senators disagree over INEC budget

    Senators, including Senate President Bukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, during plenary session on Thursday disagreed on whether to approve in part or in whole Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) budget for the 2019 general elections.
    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Senate committee on appropriations and finance on INEC had approved, waiting for Senate final approval, a total sum of N189,207,544,893 for the conduct of the 2019 general election as proposed.
    The disagreement was on whether the Senate should approve finally the N189 million INEC budget or wait until the committee had finalized reports on the other component of the budget, the security agency budget.
    The other component of the budget, the security agency budget is the N242 billion President Muhammadu Buhari requested to be vired in the 2018 budget also for conduct of the 2019 general elections.
    “Now that the issue of INEC is settled, I suggest that both reports be consolidated into one report so we can send it as a single report to the president,” Senator Ekweremadu submitted after Senator Goje Danjuma presented report on the N189 million INEC budget.
    The Senate committee had invited the security agencies such as the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mungono, Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, Director General of Department of State Services etc, today by 12 to defend their budgets, the other component.
    Senator Barau Jibrin stated that, “INEC has already complained that there has been a delay in receiving their required funding. This matter requires a high level of urgency. We should approve the INEC budget immediately”.
    “Let us treat the INEC budget and the security agency budget separately even though they were brought in together” Senator Adamu Aliero requested, while Senator Kabiru Gaya reemphasized by saying “Let us not wait for other agencies’ budgets to be ready before we pass this bill. Let us pass the INEC bill immediately”.
    Also reacting was Senator Mohammed Hassan, who said, “I believe we should approve the INEC budget. As a member of the Committee, I know we worked very hard to arrive at these figures you see here today and I understand it is imperative that we approve this”.
    Senator Saraki thanked Senator Goje and members of his committee on appropriation and finance, before dismissing them to meet with security agencies, while plenary continued.
     

  • PDP again cautions Oshiomole over Saraki’s impeachment

    Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned Adams Oshiomole, National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to stop his obsession to change the leadership of the Senate.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the PDP in a statement on Sunday said Oshiomole’s obsession to impeach Senate President Bukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu is completely out of his reach.

    “We caution the factional National Chairman of the failed and dysfunctional All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Adams Oshiomhole to stop his obsession to change the leadership of the Senate, as such is completely out of his reach.

    “We counsel Oshiomhole to stop his childish tantrums and get educated on the fact that the positions of the Senate President and that of Deputy Senate President do not belong to political parties but to Nigerians, who elect persons into the seats through their elected representatives.

    “We know that Oshiomhole is under intense pressure from the Presidency to overheat the polity, distract the National Assembly members and make as much effort to cause a constitutional crisis in the country, having realized that they cannot win the 2019 general elections.

    “Since his imposition as the factional Chairman of the APC, Mr. Oshiomhole, has done nothing but spewing hate speeches and officially introducing a thug mentality into the polity, while causing confusion in every sector of our national life, including the FEC, etc.

    “We call on Nigerians and the international community to note the activities of Mr. Oshiomhole, as being directed by the Presidency. We know that they are fighting a lost battle as they cannot cow Nigerians into changing their resolve to end this nightmare by voting APC out in 2019,” the statement read.

     

  • You can’t remove Saraki, Ekweremadu – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the All Progressives Congress (APC) lacks the legislative number and constitutional facilities to remove Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.

    In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan on Friday in Abuja, the party advised the Presidency and the APC to “accept the reality’’.

    It said that Presidency and the APC, having realized that there was no way they could muster the constitutionally required two-third votes of the 109 senators, representing 73 senators, was now engaged in under-hand tactics.

    These, according to it, include the invasion of the National Assembly.

    “Even before then, Nigerians were already aware of moves to use humongous funds to induce lawmakers to trigger crisis in the National Assembly and
    pave the way for the removal of presiding officers.

    “Now that they have discovered that there is no way they can achieve their devious intentions, they have commenced a war of blackmail,
    distortions of fact and media trial against the Senate leadership.”

    It said that the attempts would end up as another wasteful venture as Nigerians were aware of the long-drawn desperation to annex the legislature.

    The PDP added that even among the ranks of APC senators and members of House of Representatives, there is huge aversion to the tactics being deployed to force out duly elected presiding officers of the assembly.

    It said that such lawmakers were fully aligned with Nigerians, the PDP and the national assembly leadership in the protection of the independence, sanctity and integrity of the parliament and all democratic institutions in the country.

    “It is therefore instructive for both the Presidency and the APC
    to know that there is no way they can remove the leadership of the
    National Assembly, particularly the Senate.”

    It cautioned against over-heating the polity and attempts to circumvent rules and the Constitution, saying that such would not change the resolve of Nigerians to vote out APC in 2019.

     

  • JUST IN: 49 Senators append signatures against impeachment of Saraki, Ekweremadu

    JUST IN: 49 Senators append signatures against impeachment of Saraki, Ekweremadu

    Some Senators totalling 49 in number have appended signatures to stand against the purported impeachment of Senate President Bukola Saraki and Senate Deputy President Ike Ekweremadu.

    This is following meeting between All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and the Director General of the Department of State Services (DG-DSS), Lawan Daura and 30 APC Senators led by the Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan.

    49 Senators append signatures against impeachment of Saraki, Ekweremadu

     

  • Update: Pro-Saraki Senators finally gain entry into NASS complex

    Update: Pro-Saraki Senators finally gain entry into NASS complex

    Senators loyal to Senate President Bukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu have finally been allowed to gain entry into the National Assembly complex after initially being prevented from entering there by security agents.

    TheNewsGuru reports officers of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Police had earlier turned back the Senators claiming to be acting on orders from above but without disclosing who issued the purported order.

    Senator Ben Murray Bruce in his reaction to the development kicked against what he termed as an “illegality” by higher authorities, in a tweet.

    Senator Bruce who joined other senators in a series of photographs to portray to the world the solidarity of senators, especially of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), said:

    “We will forever defend this hard fought democracy. Illegality will never stand! We are now in the complex but are yet to get access to the chambers as staff of the National Assembly incharge of this have been blocked from entry”.

    Some House of Representatives members also showed up at the entrance to the Senate Chamber to show their solidarity against what many of them alleged were plans to impeach Saraki and Ekweremadu.

     

  • Saraki lauds Ekweremadu’s appointment as Professor

    President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Sunday congratulated his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on his appointment as a Professor and Senior Mentoring Scholar of E-Governance and Strategic Government Studies, by the Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America.

    Saraki in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, described the appointment as well deserved in view of Ekweremadu’s academic bent, notwithstanding his crowded legislative and political responsibilities.

    “Your appointment did not come to me as a surprise. I am only surprised that it did not come much earlier.

    “Southern University could not have made a better choice. I am confident that your performance on this role will surpass the expectations of the university council,” Saraki said.

    He further commended Ekweremadu for not only blazing an enviable academic trail but for being a good example to his contemporaries and upcoming generations.

    “I am happy that this recognition has again proved that with the right education, one can break any ceiling in life.

    “I want to urge Nigerians to continue to advance their educational career in other to acquire the necessary knowledge to drive governance and development both in the country and beyond,” Saraki stated.

    He noted that the international honour is a thing of pride for both the Senate and the entire country.