Alleged incitement: Keyamo, Obi, Datti disagree over call for arrest

Mr Festus Keyamo, SAN, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has petitioned the Department of State Service, DSS, for the arrest and prosecution of the Labour Party, LP Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates, Mr Peter Obi and Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, for comments he described as incendiary and capable of inciting rebellion.

However, Diran Onifade, Head of the Obi-Datti Media Office, described Keyamo’s call as a joke that no Nigerian should take seriously.

Similarly, the Labour Party’s Presidential Campaign Council dismissed Festus Keyamo’s petition, describing it as a desperate attempt by Keyamo to gain political relevance.

‘Need to soothe frayed nerves.’

In the petition, dated March 23, the minister, who is also the chief spokesman of the All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, stated that in a post-election period like this, there is a need to soothe frayed nerves, lower the temperature, and begin the healing process.

“A few days ago, the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, issued a statement to that effect.” However, it appears that the Labour Party’s Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates, Mr Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, are unwilling to take this conciliatory path for the sake of peace and national cohesion, while exercising their constitutional rights to pursue duly laid-down constitutional means of resolving their grievances,” he said.

‘Offensive remarks’

Keyamo stated that since the declaration of the presidential election results, the duo has been hopping from one media house to the next making incendiary comments and claims about the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declaring the president-elect.

“These comments and claims are made not just within the boundaries of exercising their rights to free speech and the freedom to air their grievances publicly,” he says, “but they have since crossed the line to call for the outright truncation of democracy by insisting on other processes outside the contemplation of our Constitution.”

“In some cases, their privies have even demanded the formation of an Interim Government.”

“The most recent of these are the comments made on Channels TV on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, on behalf of himself and Mr. Peter Obi, in which he threatened that if the President-elect is sworn in on May 29, 2023, it will’signal the end of democracy.'” He unilaterally declared the duly elected President-elect to be ‘unconstitutional,’ threatening mayhem if he is sworn in on May 29, 2023, posing as an accuser, judge, and jury all by himself.

“I also have it on good authority that Mr. Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed have camped some youths in a popular Abuja hotel with the sole purpose of instructing them to push out inciting messages on social media on a daily basis in order to cause panic and fear within the federation and incite people to riot and social unrest.”

“It is worth noting that Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed have filed Election Petitions with the courts for adjudication, but their actions and utterances amount to a subversion of the processes they have instituted in court, as well as a subversion of our Constitution and the established processes for resolving disputes and grievances.” These actions and words are a precursor to something more sinister, and you must rein them in immediately.

“In this case, I submit this petition in my personal capacity as a patriotic Nigerian to invite/arrest, interrogate, and, if necessary, charge both individuals in court for their actions, which amount to incitement and treasonable felony.”

Obi-Datti: Keyamo’s crude joke should not be taken seriously.

Mr. Diran Onifade, the Head of the Obi-Datti Media Office, described Keyamo’s call yesterday as a joke that no Nigerian should take seriously.

Onifade told Vanguard in response to a question about Keyamo’s petition on Thursday that Keyamo’s call was unworthy of a response because it was a big joke.

“This is a huge joke that no one should take seriously,” he said.

Speaking on the matter yesterday, the Labour Party’s Presidential Campaign Council described Keyamo’s call as a desperate attempt to gain relevance.

“Datti is a free citizen of this country and entitled to his fundamental right of freedom of expression,” said LP PCC spokesperson Dr. Yunusa Tanko in a statement yesterday. Datti never advocated for insurgency or any act of treason.

“Keyamo talked about healing, which means he recognized that the February 25 announcement of his principal as President elect, as well as the March 18 state elections, were marred by blatant 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 vitriol directed at non-Yorubas in Lagos by his party and their supporters.”

“The so-called’patriotic citizen’ failed to report MC Oluomo, who advised Igbos not to vote in Lagos.”

“Following Keyamo’s shameful Chatam House appearance, his principal was recorded telling key supporters to fight, snatch, grab, and run with ballot boxes, which is exactly what happened in the elections.” Why didn’t ‘patriotic citizen’ Keyamo report to the DSS?

“Keyamo is just making baseless accusations; he’s a known rabble-rouser and chatterbox who doesn’t want to lose political relevance in front of his paymaster, who has now seen him for what he is: a political paperweight who has achieved nothing as a minister except posting fake news on social media to rile up the polity.”