Chidi Samuel || Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President Monday, unleashed scathing attacks at the President Muhammadu Buhari lead administration on the poor state of the economy. According to him, the economy has suffered more crisis under the new government than at any other time while “all APC promises had been kept in the reverse order.”
The Deputy Senate President was quoted to have made the remarks at the Peoples Democratic Party’s national stakeholders’ meeting held at the Ekiti State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Uche Anichukwu, Ekweremadu said, “They told us that one US dollar would be one naira when they take over. Has that happened? Today, our currency is the worst currency in the whole of Africa. Is that the type of democracy we looked forward to? I can see a situation where the price of oil is going up and the value of naira is going down. What type of economics is that?”
While enjoining party faithful’s to remain strong as the party would “work with Nigerians to restore true democracy and hope to our people,” he counseled that ‘determination and sticking together will triumph and Nigeria will be better for it.”
The Deputy Senate President also condemned the sealing of the International Conference Centre, Abuja, the scheduled venue of the meeting, by the security agencies, stating that “such flagrant manipulation of critical institutions of democracy is not only dangerous but bad news for the nation’s democracy.”
According to him, “We are aware that all the institutions of democracy are being manipulated and harassed in this country. The National Assembly and the press are not left out. The Independent National Electoral Commission has been captured and now a part of the APC. Our judiciary is being insulted and assaulted every day. Their houses are being attacked very late at night and the judges are being harassed.
“So, we are not surprised at what we are seeing today (sealing of meeting venue)? But what remains is for us to remain resolute.”
“If you look around this room, you will see a lot of people who are being harassed, persecuted and taken to court. What is their offence? They claim they allegedly received stolen property, yet, nobody has been arraigned for the actual stealing. As a lawyer, I know that if you are being arraigned for receiving stolen property, you must first of all arraign the man who stole the property. That is not so in our own case. Is that democracy?”