Arrest Obi, Datti-Ahmed over incitement, treasonable felony, Keyamo petitions DSS

.As pro-democracy protesters disrupt traffic flow in Abuja

 Obiora Ifoh, Abuja

The spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential Campaign council, Festus Keyamo has written a petition to the Director General of the Department of State Services, DSS to urgently arrest the president and vice presidential candidates of the Labour Party, Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed for incitement and treasonable felony.

The written written on Thursday, titled

‘PETITION AGAINST MR. PETER OBI AND DATTI BABA-AHMED FOR MAKING INCENDIARY COMMENTS AND CLAIMS CAPABLE OF CAUSING AN INSURRECTION OR REBELLION AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA AND THE DULY ELECTED PRESIDENT-ELECT’ stated that both men have continued to go to various media houses and making incendiary comments.

The statement reads in parts, “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.”

Meanwhile, The Central Business District (CBD) especially the stretch from Transcorp Hilton Hotel at Maitama to the Federal Secretariat and Eagle Square, Abuja on Thursday witnessed traffic snarl as protesters hit the streets to protest the handling of the just concluded general election in Nigeria.

The protesters who were on long procession and accompanied by different vehicles mounted with loudspeakers caused long traffic along the road as motorists suffered some delays to get to their destinations in the city.

The protesters were armed with postcards with the inscriptions “INEC is Killing the Nigerian Democracy”, “Save Our Democracy”, “Nigeria Is Not A Zoo” and “Buhari Cancel Sham Elections” among others.

One of the protesters who gave his name Alhassan Gobir said they are on the streets to protest the mishandling of the 2023 General Election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) hence they organised themselves to come out to exercise their fundamental human rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

According to him there is need for Nigerians from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to demand explanations on what happened to the elections which he said have gone from bad to worse with the fiasco that have greeted the results of the February 25 Presidential election and the declaration of the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President-elect.

Another protester who pleaded anonymity tongue-lashed the electoral umpire for what he described as shoddy way it handled the general election, pointing out that the performance of the Commission has left a sour taste in the mouth of many Nigerians and by extention the international community.

Both want the elections especially the February 25 Presidential election to be revisited as demanded by the political parties to ensure that the rightful person is declared the winner and President-elect.