My Offence is not Forgery - Ekweremadu

The Deputy Sen­ate President, Sena­tor Ike Ekweremadu has reinstated his in­nocence over the charges of forgery of the Senate Standing Rules brought against him by the federal government, stressing that his only offence is his emergence as the Dep­uty President of the Senate against the wishes of the “powers that be”.

Speaking when members of Enugu State Economic Advisory Committee paid a solidarity visit to him at his residence in Enugu, the deputy senate president said that his hands were clean.

Ekweremadu, who is also a member of the high-pow­ered Economic Advisory Committee set up by Gover­nor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi at the inception of his administra­tion, reiterated his commit­ment to the principles of the separation of power, inde­pendence of the legislature, and growth of the nation’s democracy.

He said: “I am indeed humbled by your solidarity. As they say, the true test of a man is not where he stands in the time of comfort; it is where he stands when there is crisis. Many people may not take this step of faith because of the situation we found ourselves in the coun­try; some may be afraid of their liberty and afraid of any reprisals. But you have stepped out to come and show solidarity and ask questions in a matter con­cerning one of your sons.

“Let me start by saying that I restate my innocence; that I committed no offence or forged any documents; and none of the accused persons to the best of my knowledge committed any offence, let alone forging any document.

“Let me also say that no senator accused me, Presi­dent of the Senate or the other people of committing any offence. No senator or bureaucrat accused us of forging any document.

“Again, as a lawyer, I know what is called Proof of Evi­dence; that is the statement of witnesses who are going to confront you with the of­fence for which you are be­ing charged.

“I was served, and I have read this document (court process) from the first page to the last page; no witness said any of us committed any offence. Our only of­fence is that Sen Bukola Saraki and myself emerged as President of the Senate and Deputy President of the Senate. Some people found it unacceptable, and that is why we are being charged, not that we committed any offence.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Monsignor Prof Obiora Ike, said mem­bers were in Ekweremadu’s residence to get his own side of the case as regards what is happening at the National Assembly, and thanked him for granting them audience.

“One more thing, our people stand behind you, our people believe in you and our people are pray­ing for you; and when you are in public service, there is always trouble, but when you are forthright, you will always triumph,” he said.

Prof Ike stressed: “We re­spect the principles of de­mocracy, which speak of separation of powers among the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. In the year 1625, Montesquieu De Baron, a French philosopher spoke about the separation of powers as a guarantee of true freedom; because he believed that despotism and dictatorship will lead to an­archy, they will lead to lack of freedom.

“But if you separated pow­ers, and regulated them by law, then you had a stable society. And that was in Europe at a time of Mon­archism to the enlighten­ment.”

Source: Authority Newspaper