Ekweremadu: Who says the military can’t take over?

Ike Ekeweremadu, deputy president of the senate, says the country’s democracy is receding and it is not unlikely for the military to take over.

Ekeweremadu said this on Wednesday while contributing to a debate on a motion sponsored by Ahmed Ogembe, senator representing Kogi central.

Ogembe had alleged that Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi,  sponsored thugs to disrupt an empowerment programme he organised for his constituents.

The deputy senate president said such incident shows that efforts must be made to protect the country’s democracy.

He cited different instances where federal lawmakers have been harassed, warning that democracy must not be turned into a joke.

Ekeweremadu also told the governor of Kogi state that “the road he is travelling will not lead him anywhere”.

“You will recall that sometime last year when they wanted to recall Dino I advised the governor that they are wasting the resources of that state, that it is mission impossible,” Ekeweremadu said.

“They took three pages in the newspaper abusing me. Are we still hearing the recall today? Money has been wasted. Money that has been used to pay salaries of people in Kogi state was used to mobilise people to recall senator Dino yet those people have not been paid and Dino is still here.

“So today I am advising the governor again, that road he is travelling will not lead him to anywhere. Ultimately, these people he is seeing here will be back here and he will leave office.

“If he doesn’t stop, there is no how he will come back in 2019, never, no he will not. God will show him that he is a God of justice and this is a message to all those people who have caused all kinds of problem in Nigeria at different level. The problem in Nigeria is that our democracy is receding. Who says army cannot take over, let us not joke with our democracy that is the issue.

“The house of a senator was destroyed in Kaduna state, we are talking about Kwankwaso who was stopped from going to his state where he ruled for eight years. In Kaduna, Shehu Sani cannot organise a meeting and we are about a democracy? The international community needs to know this because they helped us install democracy.”

On his part, Senate President Bukola Saraki said Nigeria’s democracy ought to be a good example to other countries.

“This is not what democracy is all about. For the role we play in the comity of nations we need to be good examples to other parts of the world,” Saraki said.

“These kind of actions are unacceptable, it starts with one state – many of us have been privileged to be governors and we are almost 20 years in democracy, this is not the democracy that we should be talking about. We saw the case in Kaduna state, how a governor would go and bulldoze a house, in Nigeria? At this time and we are all still keeping quiet. These are things we must condemn totally.”

Thereafter, the senate set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the incident.