By Banji Ayoola
Policemen in the early hours of Tuesday besieged the residences of the Senate President and his Deputy, Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu.
They cordoned off Saraki’s Lake Chad, Maitama, Abuja residence just as another batch of policemen together with operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, surrounded Ekweremadu’s Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja official residence; taking positions from the main gate to the residence.
Vanguard reports that no reason has been given for the siege, which is coming on the day Saraki, on the invitation of Police Inspector General, Mr Ibrahim Idris, is expected to report at the Guzape Police Station in Abuja, to clear himself of allegations against him in connection with the Offa robbery which claimed many lives.
The siege also came few hours to Tuesday’s sitting of the Senate, where many senators at a hearing, are expected to actualise their planned defection from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to other political parties.
Saraki had in a statement on Monday night in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, described the invitation as a mere afterthought designed to achieve political purpose.
He had said that he had it on good authority that the Police had already decided on the suspects to arraign in court in Ilorin, Kwara State on Wednesday based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mohammed U.E. and that the turn around to invite him was a ploy aimed at scoring cheap political points.
According to the statement: “I have been reliably informed that the police invitation was planned by IG as a ploy to stop an alleged plan by some Senators and House of Representatives members from defecting from the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was also said that if I was detained between Tuesday and Wednesday, that will abort the so-called defection plan.
“While I continue to maintain that the issue of my position on the 2019 elections is not a personal decision for me alone to make, it should be noted that all these concoctions and evil plot cannot deter me. Those behind this fresh assault will fail as I have nothing to do with the robbery incident or any criminal matter for that matter.
“I am aware that following a request made by the Police on June 13, 2018 to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the Federation had written a legal advice dated June 22, 2018, in which he stated on page 5, paragraph (f) that “For the Senate President and the Kwara State Governor, this office is unable to establish from the evidence in the interim report a nexus between the alleged office and the suspects”.
“The Police have obviously corrupted and politicized their investigations into the Offa robbery incident. They have turned it into an instrument for the party in power to suppress perceived opponents, witch-hunt issue for blackmailing people from freely choosing which platform on which they want to pursue their ambition and a matter for harassing the people whose exit from APC would harm the chances of the party in the forthcoming elections. “
“I want to make it apparent that I have no hand in either the robbery incident or any criminal acitivity. The Police in their haste to embarrass me sent the invitation to me at 8pm and requested that I report to the station by 8am tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. This obviously demonstrated their desperation as I do not see why they are now in a hurry.
“They also stated in today’s (Monday) letter that because in my response of June 7, 2018 to their own letter written on June 4, 2018, I stated that I was responding simply to the contents of the letter and that the full text of the statement made by the arrested suspects which they claimed indicted me was not made available to me, they were now including the suspects statements in the current letter. Yet, instead of including the suspects’ statements, they only attached two copies of my own letter to the invitation. No suspects’ statement was made available.
“This plot aimed at compelling me and my associates to stay in a party where members are criminalised without just cause, where injustice is perpetrated at the highest level and where there is no respect for constitutionalism is an exercise in futility and it will fail.
“Once again, my confidence in God and our judicial system remains intact and unshaken. The truth shall also prevail in this case.”
On his own, Ekweremadu had no prior police invitation. But the planned cross carpeting, if allowed to take place, would render the APC a minority party before the end of Tuesday, a fact attested to by the Peoples Democratic Party leader in the House of Representatives on Monday.
Premium Times reported Olaniyonu confirming the siege, saying: “As I am talking to you, I cannot access the street. They have barricaded the road and I cannot say his whereabouts now.
“I hear they are doing the same thing at the Deputy Senate President’s house.”.
He said he suspects that the police want to stop Saraki and Ekweremadu from presiding over the Senate sitting.
Also, Ekweremadu’s media aide, Mr Uche Anichukwu, confirmed the siege to the newspaper on Tuesday morning, saying:”The house is currently surrounded by security agencies,” as it had been “since early in the morning.”
He was not sure if his boss would be allowed to attend Tuesday’s plenary. “That I cannot say. When you attack a man’s house, how is he supposed to be at plenary?” he questioned.
Meanwhile, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has criticised the siege as a danger to the nation’s democracy. It said that the party through its spokesman, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, said Nigeria’s democracy was under assault, a development he said would be resisted.
“Democracy has been placed under a jackboot. We are now in a totalitarian government,” he told the newspaper by telephone Tuesday morning, adding: “You can not stop the National Assembly, which is a key element of a constitutional republic. We will resist this.”
Spokesperson for the APC did not immediately answer calls seeking comments, it reported.
Anichukwu said Ekweremadu was scheduled to preside over Tuesday’s plenary following police invitation to Saraki on Monday night.
Some of the security officers said to be present at Mr Ekweremadu’s residence at Apo Legislative Quarters were those from the State Security Service and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to the newspaper, spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said he could not immediately speak about the role of his agency in the siege.
“I will get back to you,” he reportedly replied by telephone shortly before 9:00 a.m. Tuesday.
Ekweremadu was previously investigated and arraigned by the police on allegations that he forged Senate rules in June 2015 to pave way for the emergence of Saraki as Senate President against the dictates of the APC. Those charges were eventually dropped by the Federal Government.
He was also investigated on allegations of owing questionable properties abroad. But it was widely doubted whether Tuesday’s development had anything to do with past investigations into his activities.
By 8:50 a.m. when the newspaper arrived Saraki’s residence in Maitama, Abuja, the siege appeared to have been lifted and the situation normalised. About 10 security operatives, mainly police officers, were, however, reportedly seen lined up at the junction by the house with observers saying that was a normal occurrence.
As at 9:35 a.m., the siege on Ekweremadu’s house at the Apo Legislative Quarters was still on, while two police vehicles – a Toyota coaster bus and another Toyota Hiace bus – as well as a Toyota Hilux, were used to block two ends of the road to the house.
