Call for Ekweremadu’s resignation absurd – Igbo leaders

BY VINCENT KALU

Call for the resig­nation of Sena­tor Ike Ekwer­emadu, as the Deputy Senate President, has been described as ab­surd and unfair, by the President of Aka Ikenga ( the Igbo intelligentsia group), Chief Goddy Uwazurike and former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwudi Eze­ife. Both were reacting to the statement credited to former governor of Kano State and a serving Senator, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who re­cently described Ekwerema­du’s emergence as Deputy Senate President, as booby trap for President Muham­madu Buhari. Senator Ekweremadu is a member of the minority Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 8th Senate with the All Progressives Con­gress (APC) as the majority party. He is also the high­est ranking political office holder from the South east geo-political zone in this po­litical dispensation. Reacting to the call for Ekweremadu’s resignation, Chief Uwazurike, said the Deputy Senate President, like any other senator is eligible for election to any office, provided he secures majority votes. “So, it is absurd for Sena­tor Kwakwanso, or who­ever, to seek to overturn the decision of the majority just to satisfy his whims and ca­prices. The mantra, which any leader waves is the sup­port of those who elected him. I can only ask those op­posing the election of Saraki and Ekweremadu to perish the thought. “This election is not ac­ceptable to ethnic jingoists, who do not understand mer­it. Ekweremadu is there on merit and not for the settle­ment of the Southeast.” Uwazurike stressed that Ekweremadu is not an odd man out, but the choice of the majority. The minority he said, “will have its say, while the majority its way. That is the beauty of democ­racy.” He called on those who cannot accept the election of Saraki and Ekweremadu to bring a motion for their impeachment provided they can muster two-third of the votes of the senate. According to him, party opinion is irrelevant now. He condemned the belly aching, which he said was going on in the National As­sembly. He said, the South­east believes the seat is not its birth right, “but, if the senators in their wisdom elected the current officers, who then can question it?” The senate, he noted is autonomous in its affairs, and pointed out the looming danger of attempting to im­pose godfathers on the upper legislative house . “Are we to expect an era where senators have no say, while godfathers dictate what goes on? God forbid that it shall be the lot of this senate,” Uwazurike said. In the same vein, Dr Eze­ife, said he doesn’t under­stand the motivation for the call. “I don’t know from where it is coming from. This is not the first time an­other party has influenced something for the party in power. So, this one is just like that. In this regard, for anyone to call for resigna­tion, it is very unfair.” The former governor noted that Ekweremadu as the only Igbo man in the na­tion’s protocol list is a psy­chological boost to the race, and it would be so bad and sad if he is removed. He said: “right now, the presence of Ekweremadu gives a psychological boost for the South east because they will feel represented above, but if he is removed, the reverse will be the case.” Ezeife said he does not entertain any doubt over the acceptability of the Deputy Senate President, even as the only opposition party mem­ber in the midst of the ruling party. According to him, “As far as the mechanism that put him was free and fair; through a democratic pro­cess, then I think he should feel comfortable. I don’t see his position threatened.” On Ekweremadu’s emer­gence, which has ruffled the APC, Dr Ezeife, said it remains the ruling party’s headache, even as he pointed out that the DSP’s presence does not mean that PDP is still alive. “It is a problem within the APC. As I said, he was put there through a democratic process, I don’t see them removing him. It might not be possible. Even at that, his presence does not mean that PDP is still alive politically because minority will always remain a minor­ity.”