Ohaneze
Ndigbo, the Pan-Igbo socio-cultural group, said it would resist any attempt to
discredit Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu.
Mr. Ekweremadu faces the prospects of losing
some of his assets following legal moves by the federal government. The
government accuses him of owning local and foreign assets he did not declare as
expected by law to the Code of Conduct Bureau. He has, however, denied any
wrongdoing, saying he declared all his assets.
The President-General of Ohaneze, Nnia Nwodo,
in a statement on Thursday in Enugu, said it was preposterous for the federal
government to be carrying out unwarranted inquisition into Mr Ekweremadu’s
life.
He said that the allegation that Mr Ekweremadu,
the highest ranking Igbo politician in the country, embezzled public funds
without any prima facie case was inappropriate.
Mr Nwodo stated that the idea of asking the
senator to defend himself instead of his accusers showing how he fraudulently
enriched himself, amounted to turning the law upside down.
He said Mr Ekweremadu is a revered Igbo son and
had attracted a lot of development to his area without any previous accusation
of embezzlement.
“Sen. Ekweremadu is a revered Igbo son whose
public image is very high and who has attracted a lot of development to his
area; he has never occupied any public office where he was accused of
embezzlement.”
The president-general queried the system of
investigation where one was tried for simply belonging to a political party
“and is exonerated of an offence he committed for belonging to a political
party or being in government.”
He said some serving military officers had been
let off the hook either through plea bargain or for just changing from one
political party to another.
He also said that a former governor of Enugu
State whose property was under investigation was now dining with the head of
state after dumping his former party for the ruling party.
Mr
Nwodo warned that the apex Igbo group would no longer fold it arms while Igbo
sons were being systematically singled out for persecution in a country they
had contributed so much to build.
He observed that the cautionary statement by Mr
Ekweremadu had been and was still being echoed by many prominent Nigerians and
wondered why his case would be different.
He said that it was such selective justice and
marginalisation of Ndigbo that fuelled agitations by their young ones for
self-determination, adding that restructuring was a first step toward assuaging
the situation.
- NAN
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