Ahead of the planned arraignment of the Senate President Bukola Saraki and his Deputy, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, over alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules, a traditional ruler in Enugu State, His Royal Highness, Igwe Dr. Hafford Agana, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of chasing shadows.
The monarch said instead of concentrating on the various problems facing the country, the President was engaging in witch-hunt.
He said the murder attempt on the life of Ekweremadu on November 17, 2015, and the silence of the presidency over the matter lent further credence to the fact that there was a grand plot to remove the Senator at all costs.
Igwe Agana, who addressed journalists in Enugu on Sunday, equally said by Buhari’s recent actions, Nigeria’s democracy was under serious threat.
According to him, “since the present administration assumed office, it has been from one crisis to the other.
“The promises upon which Nigerians voted Buhari into power are yet to be realized; the cost of food items has gone beyond the reach of the average Nigerian. The power outages have become the worst in Nigeria’s history. The level of unemployment, insurgency in the North-East, the Niger Delta militancy, Biafra resurgence, the harsh economy and more, are issues that should occupy the time of the President instead of pursuing those that did not vote for him during the 2015 general election.
“I, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari to refrain from actions capable of derailing the hard-earned Nigerian democracy.
“I call on the patriotic lovers of equity, Justice and democracy in Nigeria to rise in their numbers and be counted.
“The international community is hereby alerted that the largest democracy in Africa is under a serious threat by one man.
“I also call on all the Igbos at home and in the Diaspora to rise in condemnation of the witch-hunt of our illustrious son, Senator Dr. Ike Ekweremadu.”
The monarch, while maintaining that Ekweremadu was innocent of the allegations stressed that “I will never support evil, injustice or any form of illegality, and because of this, I have made time to find out the fact and the truth of the matter.
“I discovered that over 30 persons were invited by the police to make statement on the forgery matter. Nobody mentioned Senator Ekweremadu in the statements made to the police. The executive chose to smuggle in the name of Ekweremadu into the charge shhet, far well after the fact.
“The witch-hunt on Ekweremadu is based on the mindset of President Buhari that his government will adopt a policy of patronage and reciprocity to those who voted for him on one hand and derivation and punishment to those who were opposed to him.
“He has a deep seated hatred against Ndigbo and this passion was reflected in the appointments into his cabinet and the lopsided 2016 budget.
“President Buhari has lived all his life with a military reflex and as such has not acquired the necessary sportsmanship that is expected in a democracy.
“The Nigerian democracy will crash if the Buhari unforgiving spirit is allowed unchecked”, he further stated.
Comments