Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the pan-Igbo socio-cultural group, has asked the Federal Government to stop carrying out “unwarranted inquisition” into the life of Deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu.
Speaking in Enugu yesterday, President of the group, Nnia Nwodo, said Ohaneze Ndigbo will resist any attempt to discredit Ekweremadu.
He said the allegation that deputy senate president, the highest ranking Igbo politician in the country, embezzled public funds without any prima facie case was inappropriate.
He said as a revered Igbo son, Ekweremadu had attracted a lot of developments to the Southeastern region without any previous accusation of embezzlement.
“Senator Ekweremadu is a revered Igbo son, whose public image is very high. He has attracted a lot of development to his area. He has never occupied any public office and accused of embezzlement.
“The idea of asking the senator to defend himself, instead of his accusers showing how he fraudulently enriched himself, amounts to turning the law upside down,” he said.
Nwodo queried the system of investigation where one is tried for “simply belonging to a political party while another is exonerated of an offence he committed for belonging to a political party or being in government.”
He alleged that a former governor of Enugu State, whose property was under investigation is now dining with the president after dumping his former party for the ruling party.
Nwodo warned that the apex Igbo group will no longer fold its arms while Igbo sons are being “systematically singled out for persecution in a country they have contributed so much to build”.
The federal government is about to charge Ekweremadu before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for alleged false asset declaration.
It has also commenced the process of confiscating some of the lawmaker’s property abroad.