By Lateef Ibrahim & Musa Adamu
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has unreservedly condemned the shameful assault on former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Saturday in Nuremberg, Germany.
Senator Ekweremadu was to give a keynote address at the Second Igbo Annual Cultural Festival and Convention organised by Ndi-Igbo Germany in that city when a mob, which identified itself as members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), invaded the venue to attack an illustrious son of Ndigbo who in his political career has consistently identified with and defended the cause of his people.
“It is incredibly absurd for anybody to blame the distinguished Senator for the violent criminal activities in his home base, the purported reason cited by the mob for the bewildering attack.
“Senator Ekweremadu, like all his distinguished colleagues in the Ninth Assembly of the Senate, is concerned about the insecurity and other challenges in that area and other parts of Nigeria. Senator Ekweremadu has also been at the forefront of the patriotic efforts to find lasting solutions to the challenges.
“The barbaric attack on Senator Ekweremadu at a forum to which he was invited to contribute to charting a course for the progress and happiness of Ndigbo debase our values as civilised people. It is most reprehensible and should be condemned by all right-thinking Nigerians,” Lawan said.
He urges the German authorities to identify those involved in the despicable act so that the law can take its course against them.
Lawan urges Nigerians to always reflect deeply and broadly before embarking on a course of action and advises the youth to ventilate whatever grievances they have along lines prescribed by the law and recommended by reason and democratic ethos.
The Senate President also urges Senator Ekweremadu not to be deterred by the incident from his path of service to his people and Nigerians in general, but to take it as part of the sacrifice of leadership.
Lawan condemned the attack through a press statement issued for him by his Special Advisor, Mr. Ola Awoniyi
The violent attack on former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu also attracted condemnation from the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.
Senator Omo-Agege, in the statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yomi Odunuga expressed shock over the undeserved assault on Senator Ekweremadu.
He also called on law enforcement agencies in Germany to investigate and bring to book all those involved in the vicious attack.
According to him, “Senator Ekweremadu honoured the invitation of patriotic Igbos in Germany who wanted him to deliver a keynote address at the event organized to commemorate the New Yam Festival but some aggressively discourteous elements hijacked the effort to perpetrate a disgraceful assault that seeks to deepen the portrayal of members of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) as enemies of democratic norms and values in which the majority must always have its way after the minority must have had its due say in all matters.
“What they did is not only a violent assault against the good image of the Igbo race across the world but an aggressive attack against the traditional norms of a people known to be hardworking and respectful of meaningful contributions by leaders such as Senator Ekweremadu.
“Such disappointing physical abuse also grossly disregards Senator Ekweremadu’s democratic antecedents and his longstanding commitment to the cause of his people. But, as he has said out of the usual largeness of his forgiving heart , these people know not what they do.
“Such criminal attack, along with other anti-social attempt to accuse, condemn and lynch anyone remains utterly condemnable and illegal, notwithstanding whether it takes place on Nigerian or foreign soil as it is the easiest invitation to anomie,” Senator Omo-Agege stated.
