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Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labor and Employment, has petitioned the State Security Services(SSS) to arrest Peter Obi, the Labour Party's presidential candidate, and Datti Baba-Ahmed, its vice presidential candidate, for remarks he deemed incendiary and likely to incite a riot.
Keyamo claimed that the pair have been making explosive remarks and assertions against the Independent National Electoral Commission's INEC announcement of the President-elect ever since the results of the presidential election were announced.
"These remarks and claims are made, not just within the confines of exercising their rights to free 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," said Keyamo.
"In certain instances, their privies have even demanded the formation of an interim administration.
"The most recent example of this is Datti Baba-Ahmed's remarks on Channels TV on March 22, 2023, in which he threatened that if the President-Elect were to be sworn in on May 29, 2023, it would signal the end of democracy.' Datti Baba-Ahmed made the remarks on behalf of himself and Mr. Peter Obi. He unilaterally declared the constitutionally elected President-elect to be "unconstitutional," acting as the accuser, judge, and jury all by himself. He also subtly warned mayhem if the President-elect took office on May 29, 2023." He continued
"I also have it on good authority that Mr. Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed have encamped some young people in a well-known Abuja hotel with the express purpose of instructing them to post inciting messages daily on social media in order to stir up fear and panic throughout the federation and to incite riots and other forms of civil unrest.
"In my own capacity as a patriotic Nigerian, I am submitting this petition to invite, detain, question, and, if required, charge both people." He concluded
