Following the rumours that the President gave as a condition, the removal of the deputy Senate President of the PDP as a condition for his reconciliation with Senate President, Bukola Saraki, igbo group, Ohaneze has warned Buhari against sacrificing Ekweremmadu to settle the rift.
The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Friday warned President Muhammadu Buhari against using the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremmadu as the sacrificial lamb to settle his perceived scores with the embattled Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) was reacting to media reports that Buhari had in his recent meeting with Saraki, which was brokered by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogora, allegedly insisted on Ekweremadu’s removal as a condition for his reconciliation with Saraki.
According to the media report, Buhari was said to be sorely pained by the emergence of Ekweremadu a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member as the Deputy Senate President in the All Progressive Congress ( APC) dominated senate.
He was said to have demanded the immediate replacement of Ekweremadu with an APC senator as condition for the eventual dropping of charges against Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal ( CCT).
A source privy to the meeting had reportedly said: “The view of the Presidency is that the arrangement in the Senate whereby a PDP senator is the deputy president in an APC-led government is a misnomer, which should not be allowed.
“If there is a political option, this is one; the arrangement is not right. The President did not like the arrangement in the Senate”.
But in a swift reaction to the alleged insistence of Buhari on removing Ekweremadu, OYC warned the President to thread with caution as “any attempt to unseat the Deputy Senate President is an affront to democracy.”
“Removal of Ekweremadu amounts to political genocide against Ndigbo,” Ohanaeze said.
OYC in a press statement issued Friday by its National President, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and Mazi Okwu Nnabuike National Secretary, asked Buhari to place the peace and unity of Nigeria above his political views.