Nigeria’s democracy is being manipulated — Ekweremadu

DEPUTY President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said on Monday that Nigeria’s democracy was being tampered with following what he called the manipulation of vital institutions and radical decline of democratic freedoms.
The senate number two man, said in a speech he gave at the stakeholders meeting of the opposition party  at Ekiti House in Abuja on Monday that the attack on chieftains of the Peoples Democratic
Party in Abuja on Monday were clear evidence of decline of democracy.
He also said that the PDP was united as according to him, the solidarity of all key organs and bodies of the PDP towards the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee, showed that “it is not the hood that makes the monk.”
He  decried the attack on the International Conference Centre, Abuja, the earlier announced venue of the stakeholders meeting by the security agencies,  adding that such flagrant manipulation of critical institutions of democracy was not only dangerous, but bad news for democracy.
He said: “We are aware that all the institutions of democracy are being manipulated and harassed in this country. The National Assembly and the press are not left out. The INEC has been captured and now a part of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“Our judiciary is being insulted and assaulted every day. Their houses are being attacked very late at night and the judges are being harassed. He also decried the continuous fall in the value of the Naira saying the currency has become the worst in Africa.
He said: “They told us that one US dollar would be one naira when they take over. Has that happened? Today, our currency is the worst currency in the whole of Africa. Is that the type of democracy we looked forward to? I can see a situation where the price of oil is going up and the value of naira is going down. What type of economics is that?”
“So, we are not surprised at what we are seeing today (sealing of meeting venue). But what remains is for us to remain resolute.
“If you look around this room, you will see a lot of people who are being harassed, persecuted, and taken to court. What is their offence? They claim they allegedly received stolen property, yet nobody has been arraigned for the actual stealing. As a lawyer, I know that if you are being arraigned for receiving stolen property, you must first of all arraign the man who stole the property. That is not so in our own case. Is that democracy?”