Ekweremadu Decries Crackdown on Opposition, Rule of Law

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has warned against the trampling of the opposition and total disregard for the rule of law in the guise of anti-corruption war.

 

Senator Ekweremadu who reaffirmed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s support for a genuine anti-graft crusade, however, decried a situation where such crusade becomes a calculated attempt to decimate and silence the opposition, while members of the ruling party with serious corruption allegations go about their businesses.

 

Speaking in the light of the continued detention of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, Senator Ekweremadu expressed fear that Nigeria was fast descending into authoritarianism.

 

He said the continued detention of the PDP mouthpiece was an attempt to gag the opposition and therefore unhealthy for democracy.

 

Warning against the corruption of the anti-corruption war, he argued: “An anti-graft trap that catches only members of the opposition and those with axe to grind with the government of the day is compromised”.

 

He called on the nation to denounce and resist the prevailing situation where people are held in custody against the directives of the courts and laws of the land, insisting that there would be no justice without the rule of law.

 

##

 

Uche Anichukwu

Special Adviser (Media) to Deputy President of the Senate

08/01/16