Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has said he was neither interrogated on Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission nor did he fall ill as a result of the reported interrogation.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu, Ekweremadu said he honoured the EFCC’s invitation and requested a leave to attend to his health which was granted.
He dismissed reports that he presented new facts to the anti-corruption agency as false.
The statement read: “My attention has been drawn to false reports in some national dailies that the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, developed high blood pressure in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission upon alleged presentation to him of a fresh set of purported ‘hidden properties’ supposedly acquired by him. There is no truth to this propaganda.
“It would be recalled that operatives of the EFCC and men of the Nigeria Police laid siege to his residence at about 6am on Tuesday, July 24, 2018, requesting him to report at its headquarters at 10am the same Tuesday. However, no letter of invitation was delivered to him until around 9am of that day.
“Since the siege would not allow him to honour the belated invitation the same day, he, as a law-abiding citizen, wrote to the EFCC to request another date, hence the rescheduled appointment of Tuesday, July 31, 2018.
“Senator Ekweremadu honoured the 10am appointment on the fixed date and left in the evening of the same day when he was granted bail on self-recognisance, with an understanding that he would report at the EFCC office at 10am the next day for a continuation of the interview.
“He reported at the EFCC on Wednesday, August 1, 2018, at 10am as scheduled, but informed them that he was not feeling well, a fact the EFCC’s doctor confirmed. He was then allowed to leave to see his doctor and it was agreed that a new date would be fixed for the continuation of the interview.”
The statement added that there was no interrogation whatsoever on Wednesday, let alone presentation of the so-called additional facts that allegedly raised his blood pressure.
“The office feels compelled by the mischief and orchestrated media trial to put the facts straight on this particular issue.”