Ike Ekweremadu was born on 12 May 1962 and is a Nigerian politician and a lawyer who hails from Enugu State and served in the Senate of Nigeria for Enugu West from 3 June 2003 to 5 May 2023.
26 Facts About Ike Ekweremadu
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Ike Ekweremadu is a member of the People's Democratic Party, and was the Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate for three consecutive senate.
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Ike Ekweremadu was found guilty on 23 March 2023 at the Old Bailey.
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Ike Ekweremadu was born at Amachara Mpu in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State, and is of Igbo origin.
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Ike Ekweremadu holds both bachelor's and master's degree in law from the University of Nigeria, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987.
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Ike Ekweremadu holds Doctor of Philosophy degree in law from the University of Abuja, Nigeria.
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Ike Ekweremadu was appointed as the Executive Chairman of Aninri Local Government Council on the platform of the United Nigeria Congress Party in 1997 and won the Best Council Chairman of the year, in 1997.
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In September 2003, as Vice Chairman of the senate committee on Information, Chief Ike Ekweremadu stated that the senate would make a serious investigation into allegations of bribery leveled by Federal Capital Territory minister Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.
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In 2005, Ike Ekweremadu was beaten in the race for President of the Senate of Nigeria by Senator Kenechukwu Nnamani.
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In July 2006, as spokesperson for the Southern Senators' Forum, Ike Ekweremadu denied charges that they had made an agreement to return power to the North in the 2007 elections.
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Ike Ekweremadu was returned in the 29 April 2007 Nigerian National Assembly election, and elected to the position of deputy senate president.
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Ike Ekweremadu was given the job of handing out committee chairmanship positions allocated to the southeast zone, making decisions that were unpopular with leaders such as Senator Chris Anyanwu, who failed to get the positions they wanted.
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In July 2007, Ike Ekweremadu was instrumental in defusing objections to the controversial nomination of Ojo Maduekwe to a ministerial position.
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When President Umaru Yar'Adua's Principal Private Secretary, David Edevbie, was allegedly indicted in September 2009 in a British court for corruption and money laundering, Ike Ekweremadu refused to take a position, stating that he did not know the facts.
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In September 2009, Ike Ekweremadu was named co-chairman of a committee to conduct the primary elections for the Peoples Democratic Party's governorship candidate for Anambra State.
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Ike Ekweremadu was reelected as Senator for Enugu West in the April 2011 elections, receiving 112,806 votes.
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On 23 February 2019, Ike Ekweremadu was re-elected as senator representing the Enugu West senatorial district For the Fifth Consecutive time having polled 86,088 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu of the All Progressives Congress who polled 15,187 votes.
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On 11 June 2019, Ike Ekweremadu lost his bid to become Deputy Senate President of the Nigerian 9th Senate.
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Ike Ekweremadu contested against Ovie Omo-Agege who scored 68 votes to emerge Winner.
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Ike Ekweremadu was elected First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament and emerged the Speaker of the regional parliament in August 2011.
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On 17 August 2019, while attending the Second Annual Cultural Festival and Convention organized by Ndi-Igbo Germany in Nuremberg, Ike Ekweremadu became the victim of a violent attack when members of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB stormed the venue of the event and began to question Ike Ekweremadu about the killings of Igbos when the Nigerian army staged Operation Crocodile Smile and Python Dance.
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The situation soon degenerated to the extent that Ike Ekweremadu was physically dragged out of the venue, assaulted and pelted with eggs.
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The leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu issued a statement on the attack on Ike Ekweremadu calling it a "polite warning" while at the same time warning other Igbo governors of a possible similar treatment.
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On 23 June 2022, Ike Ekweremadu was charged alongside his wife, his daughter and Dr Obinna Obeta with conspiring to arrange the travel of a 21 year-old from Lagos into the UK in order to harvest organs.
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On 5 May 2023, Ike Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months imprisonment.
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Meanwhile, Obeta was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and Ike Ekweremadu's wife was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment.