LP: Keyamo not patriotic, where was he when APC chieftains were inciting along ethnic line
The Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council has asked the Department of State Services (DSS) to ignore the call of the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, and spokesperson of President-Elect Bola Tinubu, Mr. Festus Keyamo, for the arrest of its Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates for alleged inciting and treasonable comments.
Chief Spokesperson of the LP Campaign Council, Dr. Yusuf Tanko, on Thursday said Keyamo who claimed he was writing to the DSS as a patriotic citizen, was patriotic by half.
Responding to Keyamo, Tanko said: “Datti (Baba-Ahmed) is a free citizen of this country and entitled to his fundamental right of freedom of expression.
“Datti never called for insurrection or any act envisaging treason.
“Keyamo talked about healing, that means Nigeria is sick, that means he recognised that the February 25th which announced his principal as the President Elect and the March 18 state Elections were marred with blatant rigging, high level violence, voters suppression and intimidation orchestrated by his party.
“Surprisingly Keyamo who claims to be a ‘patriotic citizen’ closed his eyes the the ethnic and tribal vitriolic by his party and their supporters against non-Yorubas in Lagos. The so called “patriotic citizen” didn’t report MC Oluomo who told Igbos not to vote in Lagos.
“After the shameful Chatam House appearance of Keyamo’s principal, his principal was recorded telling key supporters to fight, snatch, grab and run with ballot boxes which was exactly what happened in the elections. Why didn’t Keyamo the “patriotic citizen” report to the DSS.
“Keyamo is just making baseless accusations, he’s a known rabble rouser and chatter-box who doesn’t want to lose political relevance before his paymaster, who have now seen him for what he is, which is a political paper weight who has achieved nothing as a minister except posting fake news to rile up the polity on social media.”
Recall that earlier on Thursday, Keyamo called for the arrest of Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.
He also claimed he had it on good authority that the men camped some youths in a hotel in Abuja from where he says they have instructions to push out inciting messages everyday on social media to cause panic and fear and incite people to riot and social unrest.
In a petition he said he wrote in his personal capacity to the Director General of the Department of State Services, Keyamo said: “I write this petition with the full realisation that in a post-election period such as this, there is a need to sooth frayed nerves, lower the temperature and begin the healing process. The President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has issued a statement to this effect a few days ago.
“However, it appears the President and Vice-Presidential Candidates of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed are not prepared to toe this conciliatory path for the sake of peace and national cohesion, whilst exercising their rights to pursue duly laid down constitutional means of addressing their grievances. In this regard, since the declaration of the Presidential election results, they have 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). 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.
“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.
“It is noteworthy that Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed have submitted Elections Petitions to the courts for adjudication, but their conducts and utterances amount to subversion of the processes they have instituted in court and a subversion of our Constitution and the laid-down processes for addressing disputes and grievances. These conducts and utterances are a build-up to something more sinister and it is important you rein them in NOW!
“In the circumstance, I submit this petition in my personal capacity as a patriotic Nigerian to invite/arrest, interrogate and after investigation, if necessary, charge both individuals to court for their conducts which amount to incitement and treasonable felony.”