The Minister of State, Labour and Employment and spokesperson of All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo (SAN) may have initiated an ugly and potentially evil dance against a drumbeat that may lead to the eventual truncation of democracy in Nigeria.
This development comes against what many in Nigeria believe to be unwarranted exercise of Ministerial power in his petitioning of the State Security Services (SSS) demanding the arrest and prosecution of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, for alleged incitation of Nigerians over the outcome of the recently held presidential election.
The petition dated March 23, 2023 and addressed to the Director General [DG] of the SSS claimed that the duo of Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed were heating up the polity against the spirit of an earlier statement issued by Bola Tinubu pleading for reconciliation for the sake of peace and national cohesion.
Festus Keyamo urged the DG of SSS to arrest Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed.
As expected, Keyamo’s letter sparked suspicions within political circles – with some believing he may be up to mischief while some believing he is playing a prewritten script. “Keyamo does not want a smooth handover from Buhari to Tinubu” said one the sources who noted that Keyamo’s call for the arrest of the Labour party presidential candidates will ignite polity into bloody unrest. “Keyamo may be working for another interest that is different from that of Tinubu. The last thing Tinubu needs at the moment is bloody unrest”.
The source who expressed shock when the petition was submitted to the SSS stated “it will ignite instead of douse tension”. Keyamo remains an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari and according to the source, may share the same sentiment as his principal. The source did not elaborate on what he meant by “may share the same sentiment as his principal”.
Meanwhile, following the issuance of the Certificate of Return to Bola Tinubu by the electoral umpire, the duo of Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed called for calm, stating that the matter will be settled at the election tribunal.
However, the cry against the mismanagement of the elections of February 25 and March 18, 2023 continues to grow and spread across the regions of Nigeria, across different continents. Spontaneous protests in Nasarawa, Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Delta and other sections of Nigeria continues to gain steam while protests in the USA and UK are building and holding.
Interestingly, the SSS, shortly after receiving the Keyamo’s petition, reacted quickly.
The SSS was quick to issue statement demanding for caution on the part of political leaders, warning for the tone in utterances to be checkmated not to heat the polity further. A few days later, the SSS released another strongly worded statement. The statement alluded to the eminent threat of an interim government being hatched by politicians to halt the smooth transfer of power from Buhari to Tinubu.
As expected, the petitions generated numerous reactions.
One of the notable leaders who openly criticized the statement was the leader of Afenefere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo. He said, “I am ashamed of the DSS. I suspect they have an agenda to raise political tension and arrest opposition leaders. Has the DSS arrested the people behind Boko Haram or electoral violence? The DSS is clearly inefficient & needs further training.”
247ureports.com reached out to the Minister of State, Hon. Festus Keyamo on his request to the SSS to arrest Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed – inquiring of him whether the arrest would not result in a sure path to bloody unrest. He did not respond. The same question was posed to the SSS through the spokesperson of the SSS, Peter Afunaya. He did not respond.
