Keyamo has petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS), demanding the arrest and prosecution of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed on allegation of incitement and treasonable felony
By Emma Ogbuehi
Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo SAN has petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS), demanding the arrest and prosecution of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed on allegation of “incitement and treasonable felony”, accusing them of making comments he described as incendiary and capable of causing rebellion.
In the petition addressed to the Director General State Services DGSS and dated March 23, Keyamo argued that in a post-election period such as this, there is a need to soothe frayed nerves, lower the temperature and begin the healing process.
“The President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu 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”, he stated.
Keyamo said he submitted the petition in his personal capacity as a patriotic , demanding the DSS to invite/arrest, interrogate and after investigation, if necessary, charge Obi and Datti to court for their conduct which he said, amounted to incitement and treasonable felony.
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He alleged that since the declaration of the Presidential election results, Obi and Datti have been visiting media houses making incendiary comments and claims about the declaration of Tinubu as the President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In his words, “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 every day 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 a 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 conduct 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 conduct which amounts to incitement and treasonable felony”.
