Since his foray into politics, Ike Ekweremadu has remained a level-headed politician, doing his things in a cool way. As much as possible, he steers clear of controversy.
Those close to him say he patterns his life after the admonition in a quote by the late Chinua Achebe that “those whose palm-kernels were cracked by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble.”
Indeed, Ekweremadu’s gods must have granted him certain positive aspects of his life. An observer who claims to know him so well says that the politician’s steady rise in politics could only have been a combination of “destiny, doggedness and divine enablement”.
Anglican Archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Emmanuel Chukwuma, captured Ekweremadu’s brand of politics, this way: “Ekweremadu is not a threat to anybody. I want to say to Mr. President (Buhari), there is no need to fear him. Ekweremadu will neither say you are PDP nor that you are APC. He does not discriminate against any religion. He is not tribalistic. He is a perfect gentleman who has a heart to serve”.
On mission to serve his people
Since 2003 when Ekweremadu was first elected into the Senate he has remained a rallying point to many politicians in his state, particularly, his senatorial zone- Enugu West.
He has also excited his constituents with tangible people-oriented projects. Recently, the senator provided a water drilling ridge with a capacity to drill down to 600 meters. It was procured to ensure provision of portable water in all communities in the zone since portable water has become a persistent challenge in all the five local government areas that make up the senatorial zone.
With the collaboration of the state government, the deputy Senate president is doing everything possible to change the face of his constituency with various infrastructure development ranging from dualisation of existing roads to construction of new ones and provision of portable water.
Ekweremadu’s contribution is being praised because “despite the fact that Enugu West had produced some military governors and even as the immediate past governor of the state hails from the zone, the zone is still lagging behind when compared with other two senatorial zones in the state.”
Recently, while explaining why he joined politics, Ekweramadu said it was to address the age-long marginalisation and neglect of his people. He recalled that the first water project that he attracted as a senator was sited at Nze in Udi North as a way of remedying some of the difficulties faced by people in the area, adding that he has addressed most of the challenges in the area without being prompted by the people.
“I joined politics to address the issue of marginalisation by influencing government policies which would help in providing the needs of the people. I can see and feel marginalisation in Udi North and my vision is to change the fortunes of the people of the area for good, that’s why most of our projects in the areas of water, roads, and electricity are sited in places where the people cannot help themselves,” he said.
No noise yet about VP ambition
Although the deputy Senate president has yet to make his vice presidential ambition public as it is still wrapped in the cooler so to speak, his foot soldiers are already trumpeting it, a move observers have described as deliberate and “testing the waters”.
“Mind you, the Deputy Senate President does not believe in noise making. He is always for action. For him, action speaks louder than words. Don’t also forget that it is not expedient for him to begin to trumpet about his vice presidential ambition now. The natural thing is that he will be working underground until the person he would be deputising declares and then publicly announces him as a running mate. That is how it is done. But the question as to whether he possesses the competences does not arise,” Chuma Onuoha, an Abuja-based analyst, said.
The deputy Senate president has been described as “very competent” and a lawmaker par excellence. Nominating Ekweremadu for re-election as the Deputy President of the 6th Senate in June 2011, Senator Zainab Kure (Niger South), described him as “a legislative wiz kid”.
He has had a robust political outing that would rub off on any position he aspires to in 2019.
Elected Senator for four consecutive times since 2003, Ekweremadu who had served as Local Government Chairman, Chief of Staff at Enugu Government House and Secretary to Enugu State Government, also emerged as Deputy President of the Senate for a record third time in 2015. June 2018 will mark his 11th anniversary as a presiding officer of the National Assembly, making him the longest serving presiding officer in the history of the national parliament.
Controversies
Like many other high-flying politicians in the country, Ekweremadu has had his fair share of acrimonies from political foes. He has been accused of many things and in the life of the current administration, he has been arraigned with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on what his loyalists describe as “trumped up” charges of conspiracy and forgery of Senate Standing Rule.
The other day, Ekweremadu, was accused of “false declaration of assets” and was said to be dragged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) by the office of the attorney-general of the federation (AGF).
Ekweremadu was accused of having assets in the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States of America which he allegedly did not disclose in his declarations to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
Finesse on global assignment
Those who believe that Ekweremadu has all it takes to function as the vice president of Nigeria point to his robust tenure as the Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Parliament). They note that he brought the hitherto little known parliament to the consciousness of the peoples of the sub-region.
“He traversed the lengths and breadth of the sub-region, meeting heads of states, national and regional parliaments, building partnerships and vigorously canvassing the enhancement of the powers of the Community Parliament. Today, ECOWAS Parliament has transformed from a mere talk shop to a semblance of a parliament because Ekweremadu passed through it,” an observer said.
The man Ekweremadu
Ike Ekweremadu is a politician and lawyer from Enugu State who has served in the Senate since May 2003. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and is currently deputy Senate president for the third consecutive time.
Ekweremadu was born in 1962 at Amachara Mpu in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State, and is of Igbo origin. He holds both Bachelors and master’s degree in Law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987. He also holds Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Law from the University of Abuja, Nigeria.
Political appointments
In 2002, Ekweremadu was appointed Secretary to the Enugu State Government, before then he was Chairman of Aninri Local Government Area in 1997 and won the Best Local Government Chairman Award in Enugu State at the time. He was appointed the Chief of Staff of the Enugu State Government House.
Senatorial career
On April 12, 2003 he was elected to the Senate. In September 2003, as Vice Chairman of the Senate committee on Information, Ekweremadu said that the Senate would make a serious investigation into allegations of bribery leveled by Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. Relations between Nasir el-Rufai and the Senate continued to be hostile, and el-Rufai was eventually charged with corruption in 2008. In 2005, Ike Ekweremadu was beaten in the race for President of the Senate of Nigeria by Senator Kenechukwu (Ken) Nnamani.
In July 2006, as spokesperson for the Southern Senators’ Forum, Ekweremadu denied charges that they had made an agreement to return power to the North in the 2007 elections. In September 2006, President Olusegun Obasanjo asked the Senate to review a report by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that laid charges of fraud against Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Ike Ekweremadu promised to establish a committee of inquiry the report of which would be submitted to the Senate, although he noted that impeachment would be difficult since it would require a 2/3 majority.
Ekweremadu was returned in the 29 April 2007 National Assembly election, and retained his position as deputy senate president. He was given the job of handing out committee chairmanship positions allocated to the southeast zone, making decisions that were unpopular with leaders such as Senator Chris Anyanwu, who failed to get the positions they wanted. In July 2007, Ekweremadu was instrumental to defusing objections to the controversial nomination of the late Ojo Maduekwe to a ministerial position.
When David Edevbie, President Umaru Yar’Adua’s principal private secretary, was indicted in September 2009 in a British court for corruption and money laundering, Ekweremadu refused to take a position, stating that he did not know the facts. In September 2009, Ekweremadu was named co-chairman of a committee to conduct the primary elections for the PDP governorship candidate for Anambra State.
Senatorial election, Enugu West 2011
Ekweremadu was re-elected as Senator for Enugu West in the April 2011 elections, receiving 112,806 votes. The closest runner-up was the candidate of the Peoples for Democratic Change (PDC) party, Jackson Ezeoffor, who got 7,522 votes.
ECOWAS
In September 2009, he was appointed to lead the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ad hoc committee to work for the return of constitutional order in the Niger Republic. He was elected First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament and emerged the Speaker of the regional parliament in August 2011.
Zebulon Agomuo
