I didn’t call for military intervention, Ekweremadu says, alleges he was misquoted

The Deputy President of the Senate, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, has denied calling for military intervention in the country, saying that he was quoted out of context.Ekweremadu made the denial on Saturday at the Diepreye Alaimieyeseigha Memorial Banquet Hall, Onopa, Yenagoa, when Governor Seriake Dickson hosted him and executive members of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (Africa Region) to a dinner.

The deputy Senate President, who maintained that his comments on the floor of the Senate were misconstrued, insisted that he would never make derogatory statements against the Nigerian military, which he noted remains one of the best fighting forces on the continent.He stressed that statements made by lawmakers in the course of their duty should be situated within the proper context before any form of reaction.However, the military, through a statement by the Director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen John Agim, had argued that Ekweremadu’s comments “in the true sense, has the capacity to denigrate the Nigerian military in every ramification, including its loyalty to the President and Commander in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the confidence of the public to defend Nigeria’s democracy.”But Ekweremadu noted that parliamentarians had a duty to continue to defend democracy in the country, arguing that the difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is the parliament, which should, ordinarily, provide direction for the sustenance of democracy.He added that his remarks on the floor of the Senate were to caution his colleagues to avoid the mistakes of the past which he said led to the abrupt end of the First Republic.