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Ekweremadu’s attackers have been arrested-Abike Dabiri

Ekweremadu’s attackers have been arrested-Abike Dabiri

The chairman of Nigerians In Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has disclosed that the German Federal Police has arrested some of the Igbos who beat and stoned the former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu at an event in Nuremberg, Germany.

Recalled that the lawmaker was physically attacked by members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) as he attempted to enter the venue of the event.

The angry mob chanted “go back”, “you are enjoying life while your people are being imprisoned for nothing. We don’t want them here.”

In a statement personally signed by Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, she said, ” The incident is an embarrassment to the country.

“Some of the culprits who perpetrated the act have been apprehended and we call on the German government and law enforcement agencies to ensure that there are consequences for their actions,” she said.

The chairman of NIDCOM described the incident as “shamefully pathetic that an event which was nobly put together by the Ndi-Igbo community in Germany whose members make up the majority of Nigerians living in Germany, to amongst other things provide a forum for the Diasporans and various stakeholders to network and to facilitate a better cooperation between German and Nigerian businesses, ended up in such a disgraceful manner.”

Narrating his ordeal in the hands of his attackers, Ekweremadu who has been in Nigeria’s Upper Legislative since 2003 said things went out of hand when members of IPOB frontally denied the lawmakers entry to the venue of an event to which he was invited to deliver a speech.

In a statement signed by his media aide Uche Anichukwu, “I was given a resounding welcome by Ndigbo in Germany and everything went smoothly until some men, who identified themselves as IPOB members stormed the venue and began to complain about the killings in the South East, stressing that there would be no Igbo event at the venue.

According to the statement, the lawmaker tried to engage the angry IPOB members “but when they became unruly, I had to leave the venue. The organisers also invited the police and I was accompanied out of the venue.”

Ekweremadu who expressed his disappointment said he had been one of the leading voices for justice and equality for the Igbos at home and in the diaspora.

“I am one of the persons, who have spoken up on justice for Ndigbo, the Python Dance, judicial killings in Igbo land and elsewhere both on the floor of the Senate and in my written and personal engagements with the Presidency.”