Ekweremadu: Ibegu Accuses FG Of Double Standard

A former spokesman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chuks Ibegu, has blasted the Federal Government over its silence during the trial of a former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta were recently jailed in the UK for organ harvesting.

Since his conviction, the FG has kept sealed lips.

Reacting to the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s silence, the public affairs commentator, said Ekweremadu’s case had exposed the Federal Government’s alleged double standard.

He suggested that the embattled lawmaker was left to his fate because he is from the Southeast region of the country.

Recall that while Ekweremadu was facing trial in the UK, the Nigerian Government, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had moved for the confiscation of some of his properties in Nigeria, Dubai, and UK.

The EFCC had told an Abuja Federal High Court in Abuja in November 2022 that the properties were suspicious proceeds of crime.

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However, Ibegbu said, “My take is that nobody is above the law, and the judicial system in London has convicted Ekweremadu, but the fact that he was a deputy Senate President and a high-ranking personality in Nigeria was enough reason for the Federal Government to intervene in the matter.

“I expected the Federal Government to have intervened in the matter and probably appealed for a reduced sentence or transferred the case down to Nigeria from London. It’s part of the inconsistency and double standard of the Federal Government on issues concerning some parts of the country.

“It might have been borne out of the double dealings that once you are from the favoured part of the country, the Government takes your matter seriously, or else you are left to your fate. Like I said again, nobody is above the law; if you commit a crime, you should face the music.

“In the past eight years, the Federal Government has been known for favouritism. Once somebody not from the favourite place falls into problems, he or she is left to their fate.

“This does not mean we are encouraging crime, but with Ekweremadu’s status, we expected the Federal Government to be proactive and intervene and send a legal team to London, irrespective of the severity of his action; he’s an official of the Federal Government.

“Ekweremadu’s conviction is the conviction of Nigeria. A high-ranking Nigerian was being tried in London and the Federal Government did not deem it fit to send a representative.

“Be that as it may, the attitude of Nigerian big men is condemnable; they treat the ordinary Nigerian like toilet paper; otherwise, Ekweremadu won’t have meddled himself in all these kinds of things, but that is the reflection of the way Nigerian big men treat ordinary people.”