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By Nwobodo Chidiebere
IN 2003, when the people of Enugu-West senatorial zone gave Sen. Ike Ekweremadu the golden mandate to represent them at the Red Chamber for the first time, many thought that he was heading to the Senate to provide effective presentation like any other average senator, not even Sen. Ekweremadu himself envisaged that destiny had bigger assignment for him in the offing—judging from his humble approach to life. He began his political odyssey, with the sole vision of liberating his people from the shackles and hackles of political backwardness and developmental challenges. He has done tremendously well to alleviate the plight of his constituency, at the same time contributing his own quota towards national development. Upon arriving at the Senate, without hesitation, he began building political bridges across party, ethnic, religious and regional lines. He saw himself as senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria not that of South-East, let alone Enugu State.
In 2007, he was re-elected for a second term, for his excellent performance in the upper chamber. Then, the golden era berthed! Sen. Ike Ekweremadu was unanimously chosen by his colleagues to serve as deputy senate president to Sen. David Mark, who was also elected senate president. Before the emergence of leadership of 6th Senate, Nigerian Senate was riddled with leadership crisis cum controversies, which necessitated frequent changes of its leaders. Conspiracies, backbiting, and political bickering were characterized the activities of the Senate, until the David Mark-led leadership ended the storm and opened a new chapter in the hallowed chamber. It did not stop there, with the assistant of a competent and loyal deputy like Sen. Ekweremadu, the then Senate President David Mark was able to locate, disinfect and evacuate all the proverbial banana peels in the Senate.
Apart from the scandals that are sometimes associated with corruption allegations, one of the major banana peels—which Sen. Ekweremadu was able to demystify and deconstruct as deputy senate president were the incessant accusations of disloyalty that occurred and lack of trust between the senate president and his deputy. He was not only trusted by his principal—the Senate President, but virtually all his colleagues in 5th, 6th and 7th Senate, respectively. All throughout his two-termed deputy senate presidency under David Mark, not even one scandal or controversy was recorded or linked to the duo by the inquisitive Nigerian media or opposition Senators, taking into cognizance the volatile Nigerian political environment. Nigerian Senate, for the first time since advent of democracy in 1999, witnessed peace, stability, solidarity and progress under the pragmatic leadership of these three wise men: Senators David Mark, Ike Ekweremadu and then Senate Leader, Ndoma Egba. When Nigeria was at a political crossroads in 2010, the cabal in the Presidency tried blocking the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan from emerging president, as a result of incapacitation of then President Umaru Yar’Adua. The Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, together with his boss, played a vital role in steering the nation out of political cum constitutional logjam, via the instrumentality of almighty “doctrine of necessity,” which hitherto was not an active phrase in Nigerian political lexicon. It took the courage of these patriots; defiling political correctness, to free Nigeria from the clutches of the cabal, by imploring the powers of the legislature to make Dr. Jonathan Acting President.
For the sake of space, fast-forward to 2015. Having successfully served as deputy senate president for two consecutive terms and ECOWAS Parliament Speaker, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu took Nigerian polity by the storm, he got re-elected as deputy senate president for a third term—unprecedented in the annals of Nigerian politics. Most importantly, he was chosen by his colleagues across party lines to emerge as the first ever deputy senate president from an opposition party in the Senate. As a maverick politician cum legislative maven, who has blazed the trail in the Nigerian leadership hemisphere, Sen. Ekweremadu became the bond of bipartisanship in the Red Chamber. He capitalized on his repertoire of legislative experience built over the years, to stabilize and unify the Senate when it was needed most.
Elements of dictatorship, who viewed his bipartisan re-election as an affront to their failed quest to take over the National Assembly, entered the trenches. Some hirelings, propagandists, spin doctors and mischief makers in the ruling party, hustled in futility to portray him as an obstacle to the change agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. Media hordes were unleashed on him, just to get him to buckle, but he remained focused. Forgery allegation was cooked up; he was harassed but not intimidated. He came under intense threat of assassination, yet his quiescent nature was not altered, neither was his willpower broken. During the botched forgery trial, Ikeoha Ndigbo did not succumb to cravings of impulses, or react based on fixed template of assumptions, but held on to his age-long strategy of compartmentalization over confrontation. His principles worked. Senate leadership and every progressive-minded senator, who believed in the unconditional independence of legislature vis-à-vis principle of separation of powers, won.
Almost two years down the line in the lifespan of 8th Senate, re-election of Sen. Ike Ekweremadu as deputy senate President can be described, unequivocally and without prejudice, as a huge success. His diplomatic nimbleness, legislative prowess and unifying propensity have helped Senate President Bukola Saraki to stabilize the senate, despite a myriad of distractions. DSP, Ekweremadu, as the leader of the main opposition party in the country, does not subscribe to the ideology of destructive opposition politics. He supports and commends the ruling government when necessary, and offers constructive criticism when necessary, for the overall progress of Nigeria. He is apt at observing the golden rule of silence—knowing when to speak truth to power, and the wisdom in keeping silent, especially when it is golden.
Chidiebere writes from Abuja.
In the foregoing context, those who alleged and insinuated that his emergence as deputy senate president was to frustrate this government, had had a rethink, but yet to apologize to this consummate politician who recently turned 55. Comically, I will personally advise his die-hard critics, who could not puncture their ego to apologise, to take pages in national newspapers to express birthday wishes to him—which is already in arrears. I will also use this medium to urge Sen. Ekweremadu not to rest on his laurels, because the reward for excellence and greatness is more work. As Chairman of Constitutional Amendment Committee for three uninterrupted stretches, he has invested a lot of his progressive ideas in enhancing our democracy via the tool of constitutionality. The efforts of the Constitutional Amendment Committee, to rehash Nigerian constitutional orthodoxy, in order to give us a perfect and people-oriented constitution, have received the applause of the international community.
Chidiebere writes from Abuja.
