[NEWS] SENATOR EKWEREMADU ATTACKED

In apparent obedience to the IPOB’s directive to its members, there was commotion on Saturday when Ekweremadu was attacked in Nuremberg, Germany.

The lawmaker, who has served in the Senate since 2003, was seen being pelted with stones, yam, sticks and water packs in short video clips which had gone viral on the social media.

Decked in isiagu, a pullover shirt worn by the Igbo people on special occasions, Ekweremadu was said to have been attacked at Löwensaal am Tier Garten, Nuremberg, venue for the annual New Yam Festival of the Igbo.

The New Yam Festival holds at the end of the rainy season in August and symbolises the conclusion of the harvest and the beginning of a new planting season.

The age-long festival is celebrated across Nigeria and the world wherever the Igbo people live.

While attending the event at Nuremberg, Ekweremadu was seen being attacked by a mob who tore his cloth and dragged him out of the event.

In the video clips, the angry mob was seen preventing the lawmaker from escaping, but he was later whisked away in a Mercedes-Benz car, even as the mob continued to beat him.

As the scene played out, some onlookers, dressed in traditional Igbo attire, were heard condemning the assault meted to the former deputy senate president.

One of the onlookers was heard saying, “This is wicked; why now? It’s not good.”

Despite the commotion, the event went on as planned, according to the Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar. In a tweet via his handle @YusufTuggar on Saturday, the diplomat who was at the event wrote, “The Nuremberg yam festival organised by the Ndigbo Germany still took place and I was in attendance. There is no stopping Nigeria. It opened with the Nigerian and German anthems and I addressed the crowd.”