Obi, Baba-Ahmed plotting to forment trouble, Keyamo tells DSS
Obi, Baba-Ahmed plotting to forment trouble, Keyamo tells DSS
The Chief Spokesman for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, on Thursday accused the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, of recruiting young social media influencers to create post-election panic among Nigerians.
Keyamo made the claim in a petition sent to the Department of State Services to place the authorities on alert over alleged ‘treasonable’ action of the LP flag-bearer.
In the petition addressed to the DSS Director General, Yusuf Bichi, Keyamo alleged that Obi and Baba-Ahmed were continually making incendiary comments capable of causing a rebellion against the Federal Government and the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
He further claimed that there was an intelligence that the duo had recruited some youths to push out inciting messages on social media with the ultimate aim of causing fear and panic.
The statement read, “I write this petition with the full realisation that in a post-election period such as this, there is a need to sooth frayed nerves, lower the temperature and begin the healing process. However, it appears the presidential 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.
“In this regard, since the declaration of the presidential election results, they 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. These 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 have since crossed the line to call for the outright truncation of democracy by insisting on the adoption of other processes outside the contemplation of our Constitution.
“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’.
“I also have it on good authority that Mr Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed have camped some youths in a popular hotel in Abuja with the sole aim of instructing them to push out inciting messages everyday on social media in order to cause panic and fear within the federation and to incite people to riot and social unrest.
“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 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 conducts and utterances are a build-up to something more sinister and it is important you rein them in now.”
Efforts made by The PUNCH to get Keyamo to validate his claim that Obi and Baba-Ahmed had recruited youths to make troubles met a brick wall.
He insisted that such sensitive details were meant for security agents instead of being leaked in the media.
He also failed to mention the name and exact location of the hotel where the social media influencers were allegedly camped in Abuja.
“At my level, I cannot be revealing everything on paper. It is for the security agencies. They will get to investigate it. The essence of this is to scatter them,” he said.
But the Head of Media of Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Diran Onifade, described Keyamo’s petition as a big joke.
He said, “We don’t have to react to his so-called petition. It is a huge joke. I think Festus is just joking. A joke can take any form.”
Diran said it would be foolhardy to attempt to honour Keyamo with a response.
“Do you seek to correct the like of Ali Baba, Mr Ibu and other comedians when they joke at your expense? You just have to let it go,” he said.
Also, the spokesman for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, described the allegations in Keyamo’s petition as ‘baseless.’
He said, “Keyamo is just making baseless accusations. He’s a known rabble-rouser who doesn’t want to lose political relevance before his paymaster. He is a political paper weight, who has achieved nothing as a minister except posting fake news to rile up the polity on social media.
“Datti is a free citizen of this country and entitled to his fundamental right of Freedom of Expression. He never called for insurrection or any act envisaging treason.
“The fact that Keyamo talked about healing means Nigeria is sick. That means he recognised that the February 25 presidential election which announced his principal as the president-elect and the March 18 governorship and state assembly polls were marred with rigging, high level violence, voters suppression and intimidation orchestrated by his party.”
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