After 16 years in National Assembly, Ekweremadu announces plans to retire

Ekweremadu, who represents Enugu West, said his 16 years at the National Assembly had been riddled with political persecution

The deputy Senate president thanks President Muhammadu Buhari for helping with projects in his constituency

Having spent 16 years so far in the National Assembly, the deputy president of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, said on Sunday, May 12, he will retire from the upper chamber in 2023.

Ekweremadu, the senator representing Enugu West and who clocked 57, said in 2023, he will no longer seek for re-election to the Senate.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the ranking principal officer, said this during the birthday celebration adding that it was time to quit the legislature.

Elected recently for the fifth term, the lawmaker said that his remaining time in the National Assembly would afford him time to complete ongoing projects in his constituency.

The deputy Senate president said that a new breed politician with shared visions would take over from him at the expiration of the fifth term.

He noted that his 16 years journey in the National Assembly had been immensely beneficial to his constituents as it had been a harvest of projects.

While thanking President Muhammadu Buhari for his support through the various projects being executed in his constituency, Ekweremadu, who traced his political evolution from his time as president general of his town union, added that his career had not always been smooth.

He described his life as being a product of divine grace having passed through political persecution and vicissitude of life.

“I have been scorched and bruised and in all of these, God protected me. This will be my last time as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
The senior lawmaker appealed for forgiveness among those he may have offended some people in the course of his political career.

Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, who chaired the event, described Ekweremadu as a perfect gentleman, who had provided leadership at all levels of his political life.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) recently nominated Abubakar Bukola Saraki , Senate president, as an ambassador-at-large.

In a letter dated March 16, 2019, Ambassador Friday Sani, the diplomatic head of the commission to Nigeria and other African countries, stated that Saraki had been appointed as one of the revered Ambassadors-at-Large of the multinational body.