Nigeria’s junior minister for Labour, Mr. Festus Keyamo has petitioned the Secret police to have Labour Party duo, Peter Obi and Prof. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed arrested for what he termed incendiary comments hurled aimed at destabilising the nation.
Festus who is of the APC fold said in a two page letter released on Thursday that the two have been at it since Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared President-Elect earlier in the month.
“Earlier today, I submitted a petition to the Dept. of State Services (DSS) against Mr. Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed to rein them in for their conducts and utterances which bother on incitement & treasonable felony. A call for peace & national healing does not amount to weakness.
Keyamo added, “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.
“In some cases, their privies 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 29th, 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 29th, 2023.”
He continued”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.
“I submit this petition in my personal capacity as a patriotic Nigerian to invite/ arrest, interrogate and after investigation, if necessary, charge both individuals.” he added.
