Adamu Garba, a former presidential candidate on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has stated that the 10-year prison sentence handed down by a UK court to former Nigerian Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has tarnished Nigeria’s image and sovereignty.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that the embattled politician along side his wife Beatrice, and Doctor Obinna Obeta were sentenced to jail on Friday over organ harvesting.
Garba responded to the incident on Friday via his Twitter handle, arguing that it is not ideal for a former deputy Senate president to serve a prison sentence in a foreign country.
He urged the Federal Government to summon the UK ambassador to Nigeria and express his dissatisfaction with the situation.
He wrote:
I really don’t like this. I see it as a dent upon the image of our country and its sovereignty. A whole former deputy senate president to serve a jail term in a foreign land?! What kind of country are we?
I saw some pleas from different people for his release, most notably from former President Obasanjo and the Speaker of House of Representatives, but this isn’t enough.
If Nigeria is serious on this issue,we should immediately summon a UK ambassador to Nigeria, express our displeasure with the situation, minding not the attitude of Senator Ekweremadu but on the institution he represents, then, perhaps, afterwards, negotiate within our diplomatic basket, for what we can give them in other to get him back to Nigeria.
I am sure there are a whole lot of diplomatic give and take to tidy up and bring Senator Ekweremadu and his wife to serve their jail them in Nigeria. Why do we have a mutual legal assistance treaty with the UK? What are the terms? How can we improve on it? I don’t like the idea that a former deputy senate president is serving a jail term in the UK, honestly I don’t!
Allowing such to happen started during Obasanjo’s administration, when they mistakenly, in the name of fighting corruption, allowed late Governor Alamesigha and former Governor Ibori to serve jail terms in a foreign land. That was a bad precedent and we should be mindful of such unwholesome, unpatriotic mistakes.
Nigeria is a sovereign state with its laws, principles and justice system, equal enough to administer justice and apply sanctions on breach of law.
We must stand up for our institutions and protect their sovereignty in the name of our national interests.
Adamu Garba