Rita Odafe
Mr. Festus Keyamo SAN, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has submitted a petition to the State Security Services (SSS) to arrest the Labour Party (LP) Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates, Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, respectively. According to Keyamo, their comments have been incendiary and could potentially lead to rebellion. He noted that since the declaration of the Presidential election results, the two have been making incendiary remarks and claims about the declaration of the President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Keyamo further stated that their comments have gone beyond exercising their rights to freedom of speech and airing grievances publicly, as they have called for the outright truncation of democracy by suggesting other processes outside the contemplation of the Constitution. In addition, Datti Baba-Ahmed allegedly threatened on Channels TV that if the President-Elect is sworn in on May 29th, 2023, it would ‘signal the end of democracy’.
Furthermore, Keyamo has heard that Obi and Baba-Ahmed have been camping youths in a hotel in Abuja with the intention of instructing them to spread inciting messages on social media in order to cause panic and fear within the federation and incite people to riot and create social unrest. He concluded by saying that he submitted this petition in his personal capacity as a patriotic Nigerian to invite/arrest, interrogate and after investigation, if necessary, charge both individuals.
