Tag Archives: Ike Ekweremadu

Defectors are job seekers, lack political value, says Ekweremadu.

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Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday described members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South East who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as job seekers who had no political value in the zone. A former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, recently defected along with other PDP members to the APC.

In a remark at the meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP in Abuja, Ekweremadu declared that the electoral values of those defecting are well known.

He said: “Recently, we have heard of a number of defections from the PDP to the APC. For me, coming from the southeast, they are doing registration of the APC in the zone and some people are defecting.

“Also in the National Assembly, some people have left for the APC. But my response to it is this: let me start from the southeast, those of my brothers and sisters who are here, they know the electoral value of each and everyone of us.

“We are not going to tell you but those who keep their ears will find out later because we allowed them so that they could get the contracts that they are seeking, we allowed them to get the employment they are seeking.

Ekweremadu said those living the PDP now thinking that the party is dead are making a grave mistake, because the party can only get stronger.

In his remarks, the newly elected chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, observed that the whole country was tired and already looking forward to another change because of the APC’s poor handling of affairs.

He noted that the challenges faced by the PDP members included “arrests, incarceration, intimidation, provocation by the party in government,” and assured that only change is constant.

He said: “The whole country is not only tired of the ruling party, they want another change. If not for the constitution, they want the change tomorrow.”

Fayose submitted that the anti-corruption fight of the ruling party is nothing but a ruse and a weapon of intimidation.

“Nigerians are tired of the story of corruption especially when you find that people that are fighting corruption are busy stealing cows and are running after those people alleged to have stolen squirrel,” he remarked.

Fayose appealed to party leaders to work together while those aspiring for offices should do so with decorum. He said he will continue to express his mind and does not care if the Federal Government withdraws his police guards.

“I will continue to leak their secrets. I will remain a torn in their flesh. Anything they want to do let them come. If they want to carry their police, let them carry their police. I don’t care,” he declared.

And in an opening address, the chairman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, disclosed that judgment on the legal tussle regarding the true leadership of the PDP would soon be delivered.

According to Makarfi, the outcome of that case will serve as an important foundation in the moving forward of the party and Nigeria adding that we have confidence that the judiciary will do what is right.”

Senate denies plot to impeach Ike Ekweremadu

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New Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan and Whip, Prof. Sola Adeyeye, yesterday refuted reports of alleged subterranean moves by the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus to move against Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.

Speaking to newsmen when he led some principal officers to the party’s national secretariat on a courtesy call on the National Working Committee (NWC) members in Abuja, Lawan described his election as an elixir for stability within the Senate and the party.

Lawan, a representative of Yobe North, was last Tuesday picked by the caucus to replace Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC Borno South).

His words: “My election is a part of the yearning for party supremacy. The significance here is the unity and stability in the Senate, the unity of our party, and of course this will transform into the high level of productivity for our government.

“It will consolidate the unity and togetherness within our party and will consolidate unity of APC Senate Caucus and of course, we will now be operating on the same page.”

Adeyeye described the report as mere speculation, noting that such was not new in politics.

In the meantime, the reported call on Ekweremadu to jump ship in order to save his seat may have begun to bear the APC apart in his home state of Enugu.

While its state chairman, Mr. Ben Nwoye came out publicly yesterday to distance the party from a statement credited to its Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Kate Offor that the Deputy Senate President should stay put in the PDP, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, however, backed Offor.

Offor, had in a statement on Sunday in Enugu, urged Ekweremadu to remain in his party to “help clear the mess he contributed in creating there.”

But Nwoye told newsmen that the party was opened to all genuine democrats and progressives in the Southeast, adding that its three-week registration exercise in the zone was “open to all and sundry, including Ekweremadu without any tariff.”

He hinted that notable PDP leaders in the state, including former Senate President Ken Nnamani and erstwhile Speaker of the House of Assembly, Eugene Odoh, had joined the party.

 

Source: Guardian

“After My Removal, Ekweremadu May Be Next” – Ndume

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Former Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Ali Ndume, has said the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, may be the next to lose his leadership position in the Senate.

Ndume, who was sacked by the All Progressives Congress caucus in the Senate on Tuesday, made the claim during plenary on Wednesday while decrying the way he was removed.

He said, “ If today, just like that, without telling somebody and he goes out ( is removed ) … If it is Ndume today and he goes out, it may be, God forbid, Ekweremadu tomorrow,” he said.

Although Ndume accepted the decision of the APC lawmakers to remove him as Senate majority leader and thanked them for the opportunity giving to him , he insisted that he wasn’t given a fair hearing by the lawmakers .

He said this was more so because he had attempted to resign from the position for the sake of unity among the lawmakers thrice before his removal.

Ndume, along with Ekweremadu, who is of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Senate President Bukola Saraki had emerged as leaders of the Senate contrary to the wish of the All Progressives Congress.

His claim hints at an attempt to remove all of them. This is more so as he was replaced by Sen. Ahmed Lawal, who had been the party’ s preferred candidate for Senate President