Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo SAN, has petitioned the State Security Services (SSS), calling for the arrest and prosecution of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates, Mr. Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, respectively, for comments he described as incendiary and capable of causing rebellion.
In the petition, which was addressed to the Director General State Services (DGSS) and dated March 23, Keyamo, who is the Chief Spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), expressed concern over the statements made by the LP candidates since the declaration of the Presidential election results.
He noted that the duo had 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), and had even called for the establishment of an Interim Government.
The latest of such comments, according to Keyamo, was 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 29th, 2023, it would ‘signal the end of democracy’.
Keyamo noted that while the LP candidates have submitted Elections Petitions to the courts for adjudication, their conduct and utterances amount to a subversion of the processes they have instituted in court and a subversion of the Constitution and the laid-down processes for addressing disputes and grievances.
He went further to state that he has it on good authority that 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.
In conclusion, Keyamo called for the arrest, interrogation, and prosecution of both individuals to court for their conduct which amounts to incitement and treasonable felony. He emphasized the need to soothe frayed nerves, lower the temperature and begin the healing process in a post-election period such as this.