The Senator representing Enugu-West senatorial district of Enugu State, Senator Ike Ekweramdu, has described his decision to re-contest for the post of the Deputy Senate President as a move to make a statement on the invasion of the Senate by sponsored thugs by one of the contestant, and not to actually win.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu who had jumped into the contest for the post of the Deputy Senate President at the last minute, said it is ’embarrassing’ for the Senate to have as it’s Deputy Senate President a lawmaker who allegedly led thugs to the chamber and disappeared with the Mace.
A lot of people had thought that Senator Ike Ekweremadu given his experience and relationship with other Senators was going to clinch the seat of the Deputy Senate President ahead of Omo-Agege the eventual winner, but when the results were announced, the Senator from Enugu saw that he was defeated with a huge margin, as Omo-Agege won with 68 votes against his 37.
Speaking after his defeat on 11th June 2019 Senator Ike Ekweremadu said:
“I believe there must be a referendum,”
“Look at what happened on a day I was presiding and chambers invaded. It is embarrassing that someone who led that operation will take a bow and is endorsed and we all walk home like it doesn’t matter. I wanted a situation where we could present a referendum in respect of what transpired.”
On his decision to contest, he said:
“Early this morning, we were not minded to run for any office, we thought that our friends in APC in consensus candidate that we can all be proud of, we don’t want a situation where we will say what happened here and you came and endorsed same person Deputy President of the Senate. We need to exonerate ourselves. It was not a contest to win or lose, I wanted to make a statement.”