👤 By Danjuma Aliyu
Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, has issued a statement to deny any allegation of false assets declaration.
Senator Ekweremadu, who was responding to a case brought against him by Okoi Obono-Obla, chairman of the special presidential investigation panel for the recovery of public property, SPIP, says he has duly declared all “my assets,” and has no case to answer again.
“Let me re-affirm to Nigerians and my supporters that I have no assets declaration case to answer,” he said.
He added: “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria requires public office holders to declare their assets every four years, a requirement which I fulfilled.”
“The Panel requested and obtained copies of my Assets Declaration Form from the Code of Conduct Bureau where everything is stated in black and white.
“For emphasis, all my assets were fully and comprehensively declared to the Code of Conduct Bureau.”
The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, also faced similar charges at the Code Of Conduct Tribunal, CCT but the Supreme Court cleared him of all charges.
At the time, Senator Saraki, a two-term Governor of Kwara said his case which was filled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission led by Ibrahim Mustafa Magu, was politically motivated.
On his acquittal, Senator Sarkai said: “I am most grateful for the support of my Distinguished Colleagues and the Honourable Members for their unflinching support. They were unfairly criticised for accompanying me on court appearances, but they did so because they believed that injustice to one, is injustice to all.
“My immense gratitude also goes to the international community for their interest in this case. The Nigerian press have kept watch and I appreciate their vigilance in ensuring that all the facts were held up to scrutiny.
“To my supporters, yes, there is a reason to rejoice, but our celebration must be tempered with the sobering lessons of the attempted injustice from Day One of this trial.”
Similarly, the Deputy Senate President has identified the root cause of his problem and believes it is all politics.
The lawmaker insisted that his “hands are clean.”
He stated that “anybody, who knows any undeclared assets of mine, should feel free to avail the public of such information.
“Nigerians and the international community should, therefore, disregard this latest campaign of calumny and witch-hunt.”
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He said: “It is obvious that this is part of the desperate and panic measures to cripple the opposition ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“Every opposition candidate and leader should, therefore, be ready for such smear campaigns and onslaughts, but rest assured, however, that they would ultimately triumph where their hands are clean.”
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In fact, the DSP, who has people eyeing his Enugu-West Senate seat, noted that the man who filed the charges against him was one who was indicted for falsifying his West African Examinations Council, WAEC results.
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“I expect the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mallam Abubakar Malami, to channel his energy to prosecuting Obono-Obla Panel over his established case of forgery of his Senior School Certificate result instead of this politically-motivated prosecution and smear campaign.”
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