“It is with gratitude to Almighty God that I will like to tell… the general public that myself, my wife and my son narrowly escaped assassination…”

Fred Itua, Abuja

The Senate yesterday directed its committee on Police Affairs to investigate alleged poor response by the police when the house of its deputy president, Ike Ekweremadu, was attacked in the early hours of the day. The senate also warned the police against partisanship, stressing that the country would suffer serious consequences if it happens.

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The position of the senate was sequel to the formal complaint by Ekweremadu on the senate floor yesterday about the forced entry into his residence by armed men. At the commencement of senate session yesterday, Ekweremadu drew the attention of his colleagues to the incident, saying: “It is with gratitude to Almighty God that I will like to tell my colleagues, my constituents and the general public that myself, my wife and my son narrowly escaped assassination in the early hours of this morning.

“It was about 4 a.m. this morning that some people evaded the security in my house and got all the way to my room where I was sleeping with my wife. There was a struggle, there was a fight with heavy commotion and by the grace of God we eventually caught one of them and the rest escaped.”

“We handed that one over to the police investigating the matter. The annoying aspect of it or the one that is worrisome is that at that point I called the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) but his phone was switched off. I called some of his aides, their phones rang out and nobody replied till now. I called DIG operations, till I left my house nobody showed up.

“I then asked my people to invite the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Apo Police Station. We didn’t see him till about 5:30 a.m., he sent his second-in-command, who came and saw the dangerous weapons that they left behind. He left and said that the DPO was coming. Until I left my house at 9 a.m., the DPO had not come.”

Ekweremadu further said: “Nobody is safe in this country. I want to appeal to my colleagues and the general public that we all continue to be prayerful and be conscious of our private security; it appears that security is not in the hands of government but the Almighty God. It is time for all of us to deal with the issue of security. I believe the police will be on top of the matter shortly.”

Ruling on the motion, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said: “It is unfortunate having this security situation in Abuja. What is more disturbing is the poor response of the police. I hope the police are not being partisan with the way they treat cases. I hope the chairman of the Senate Committee on Police will find out what happened. You are the deputy senate president and at your level, you did not get response for over seven hours. I think it is very unfortunate.”

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