The Minister of State, Labour and Employment who is also the spokesperson of All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo (SAN) has petitioned the Directorate of State Security(DSS), asking for the arrest and prosecution of Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, for allegedly inciting Nigerians over the outcome of the recently held presidential election.
Fetus Keyamo in the petition addressed to the Director General of DSS, said in a post-election period, there is a need to soothe frayed nerves, lower the temperature and begin the healing process.
“The President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, issued a statement to this effect a few days ago. However, it appears the President and Vice-Presidential candidates of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, are not prepared to toe this conciliatory path for the sake of peace and national cohesion, whilst exercising their rights to pursue duly laid down constitutional means of addressing their grievances.” he stated.
Keyamo claimed that since the declaration of the presidential election results, the duo have been hopping from one media house to the other making incendiary comments and claims about the declaration of the president-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to him, those comments and claims are made, not just within the boundaries of exercising their rights to freedom of speech and the freedom to air their grievances publicly, but they crossed the line to call for the outright truncation of democracy by insisting on the adoption of other processes outside the contemplation of the Constitution.
“In some cases, their supporters have even called for the establishment of an Interim Government.
“The latest of such are the comments made by Datti Baba-Ahmed on behalf of himself and Mr. Peter Obi on Channels TV on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, wherein he threatened that if the president-elect is sworn in on May 29, 2023, it would ‘signal the end of democracy’.
“Posing as an accuser, a judge and a jury all by himself, he unilaterally declared the duly elected president-elect as ‘unconstitutional’ and, in a subliminal manner, threatened mayhem if the president-elect is sworn in on May 29, 2023.
“It is noteworthy that Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed have submitted elections petitions to the courts for adjudication, but their conducts and utterances amount to a subversion of the processes they have instituted in court and a subversion of our Constitution and the laid-down processes for addressing disputes and grievances. These conduct and utterances are a build-up to something more sinister and it is important you rein them in now!
“In the circumstance, I submit this petition in my personal capacity as a patriotic Nigerian to invite/arrest, interrogate and after investigation, if necessary, charge both individuals to court for their conducts, which amount to incitement and treasonable felony.”
Reacting to this, Dr. Tanko Yunusa, spokesperson of the Obi/Datti Campaign Organisation, described Keyamo as a rabble-rouser and chatter box, who doesn’t want to lose political relevance before his paymasters.
He said: “Keyamo talked about healing, that means Nigeria is sick, that means he recognised that the February 25 election, which announced his principal as the president-elect and the March 18 state elections, were marred with rigging, high level violence, voter suppression and intimidation, orchestrated by his party.
“Surprisingly, Keyamo who claims to be a ‘patriotic citizen’ closed his eyes to the ethnic and tribal vitriolic by his party and their supporters against non-Yoruba’s in Lagos. The so-called ‘patriotic citizen’ didn’t report MC Oluomo, who told Igbos not to vote in Lagos.
“After the shameful Chatham House appearance of Keyamo’s principal, he was recorded telling key supporters to fight, snatch, grab, and run with ballot boxes, which was exactly what happened in the elections. Why didn’t Keyamo the ‘patriotic citizen’ report to the DSS?”
