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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Department of State Services (DSS), in a security report last week, confirmed the apprehension in many quarters about the alleged plot by ‘certain misguided elements’ to scuttle the May 29 inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and install an Interim National Government (ING).
The validation of the plot for an interim government by the Nigeria’s secret police was sequel to the gathering cloud against the President-elect since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Tinubu winner of the February 25 presidential election.
The wave of uncertainty had manifested in different formats. They include the outright rejection of the President-elect and his ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), threats to abort his inauguration, media attacks, both pro and anti-protests against the inauguration, demand for the composition of an interim government, and even the ridiculous speculation that President Muhammadu Buhari will not hand over to Tinubu.
As days rolled into weeks and weeks into months, a protracted mood of tension, apprehension, and uncertainty have continued to mount and cast doubt over the possibility of swearing in the President-elect on the proposed date.
The crossfire among the gladiators, Tinubu’s camp and the aggrieved Nigerians on one side and the opposition party candidates on the other side, on daily basis, has continued to portray Nigeria as a country in a state of war and anarchy. Intensifying bitterness, resentment, and animosity have not only engulfed the country but also balkanised the citizens along ethnic and religious divides.
The dust raised by the pronouncement of Tinubu as President-elect has curiously refused to settle weeks after. And not even the threats and counter threats from Tinubu and his camp in collaboration with security agencies to crush any seen and imaginary enemy could cow the aggrieved persons across the country.
Apart from determined protesters taking to the streets in major cities in and outside the country and visiting different embassies to register their grievances and specifically request Tinubu’s rejection, the threats of visa ban to certain political actors from the international community have also contributed to heightening the tension in Nigeria.
Not even the assurances from the presidency on the certainty and sanctity of the May 29 handover date and the promises from the transition committee could reduce the war-like situation in the country.
Regrettably, the election campaign mode has been helplessly activated on daily basis, as the actions and inactions of what the Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidates, Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar respectively, did or did not do with their running mates, continuously press the panic button to worsen the already worrisome political atmosphere.
Obi’s next actions and moves, his comments while appearing on television programmes, his interface with INEC over the inspection of electoral materials and his next legal moves, have all become matters of serious interest, especially in the camps of the President-elect and the ruling party who are battle-ready to match the opponent force for force and strength for strength.
The comments from certain notable individuals have not also helped matters. From Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former governor of Anambra state who said that Tinubu will not be inaugurated as president, to the authentic faction of Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, who discredited Tinubu’s emergence, the political storm, wave, and tide have resisted calmness.
Ezeife, while insisting that it will not unite the country if Tinubu is sworn in, noted: “I do not believe that Tinubu my friend will be sworn in as president. If that is done, it would be a disaster… What to do? Some foreign countries are calling for the cancellation of the election. For me, I don’t really think that is the only solution because it costs money.
“What we have to do is to go back to the documents, go back to all the systems we used, and look at the correct results that came out, especially which came out before the stoppage of the uploading. We look at it and declare results based on those results. There is no point going to waste more money. I believe this election has given hope for one Nigeria,” he suggested.
Again, in what appeared like lighting up an overheated pressure pot, Afenifere, reiterated its earlier position that the presidential election was fraught with irregularities, maintaining that the outcome of the polls was not a reflection of the will of the people and not in compliance with the Electoral Act.
“That Afenifere reiterates our position that the presidential election was characterised by all forms of primitive manipulations and noncompliance with the constitution of Nigeria, the Electoral Act 2022, and the Guidelines and Regulations made pursuant thereto with concomitant legislative force.
“That the results of the lawful votes at the presidential election available to the Afenifere through credible sources confirm that Peter Obi won the said election and we, thus, support his decision challenging the contrary declaration by the INEC.
“We re-assert that for equity, fairness, national cohesion, and peaceful corporate existence, the next President of Nigeria shall be a person of its southern part and specifically the South-East,” the Pa Adebanjo-led Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation insisted.
As if the fever pitch tension in the country was not enough, the DSS had released the security report confirming the plot by “misguided” political actors to install an interim government.
The statement signed by its spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, read: “The DSS considers the plot, being pursued by these entrenched interests, as not only an aberration but a mischievous way to set aside the constitution and undermine civil rule as well as plunge the country into an avoidable crisis.
“The illegality is totally unacceptable in a democracy and to peace-loving Nigerians. This is even more so that the machination is taking place after the peaceful conduct of the elections in most parts of the country.
“The planners, in their many meetings, have weighed various options, which include, among others, to sponsor endless violent mass protests in major cities to warrant a declaration of a State of Emergency. Another is to obtain frivolous court injunctions to forestall the inauguration of new executive administrations and legislative houses at the federal and state levels.
“The DSS supports the President and Commander-in-Chief in his avowed commitment to a hitch-free handover and will assiduously work in this direction. It also supports the Presidential Transition Council and such other related bodies in the states. Consequently, the DSS strongly warns those organising to thwart democracy in the country to desist from their devious schemes and orchestrations.
“While its monitoring continues, the DSS will not hesitate to take decisive and necessary legal steps against these misguided elements to frustrate their obnoxious intentions,” the secret police warned.
However, ever since the statement was released, the DSS has come under intense criticism for politicising the sensitivity and severity of such obnoxious and illegal political arrangements in the country.
From the governors that chided the DSS for not arresting the plotters, to the opposition political parties and the Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC) that described the allegation as a ploy to arrest their members and more curiously from the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku, who made the same claim, the aim of the DSS to calm the charged political temperature seem to be defeated.
Speaking on behalf of Atiku, former APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Timi Frank, described the alarm to foist an interim government on the country as a ploy by security agencies to arrest him and his LP counterpart, Obi, before the May 29 handover date.
“The DSS’ purported intelligence is fake. It is a plot to crack down on protesters and arrest opposition political leaders before May 29. We have credible information that the DSS issued the statement in preparation for its planned disruption of ongoing protest by Nigerians who are demonstrating peacefully to demand justice and the restoration of their stolen mandate.
“Nigerians have been under siege by bandits, kidnappers and terrorists for a long time now, but the DSS never gave intelligence to foil kidnapping, heinous attacks, maiming, and killings of innocent Nigerians. The only time you see the DSS coming up to talk about intelligence is whenever Nigerians are preparing to either protest against obnoxious government policies, rules, human rights abuses or carry out lawful political activities.
“The DSS must stop this method of intimidating Nigerians, especially politicians, whenever they want to exercise their constitutional rights. In fact, we dare the DSS or any other security outfit in the country to arrest Atiku and Obi before May 29 and see the wrath of Nigerians,” the statement warned.
In another warning to the DSS, LP insisted that Nigerians won’t be intimidated into submission to abandon their legitimate, legal right to seek judicial redress to reclaim their mandate freely given to Obi brazenly stolen.
LP’s Chief spokesperson, Yunusa Tanko, while reacting to the alarm raised by the DSS, said: “We are certain that Nigerians who want to take back their country will not be intimidated or blackmailed into abandoning a legitimate cause.
“As a party, we have submitted ourselves to pursuing the course of justice through constitutional means. It will not serve as interest of democracy collapses in Nigeria. We will like to ask, where was the DSS when our members and other Nigerians were attacked, maimed, and killed, especially in Lagos?
“Where was the DSS when MC Oluomo and his ilk were engaged in ethnic profiling and violence against Nigerians of a certain ethnic nationality over their democratic choices? We needed the DSS to step up its game then, but it failed. If it had done what it was supposed to do, our nation would have been the better for it. Now that Nigerians have decided to follow laid down democratic procedures of drawing attention to injustice, warnings and threats are being issued.
“The DSS ought to have issued these warnings from the beginning to show Nigerians that this country belongs to all of us and not the personal fiefdom of an individual or a group. We urge the DSS to send these words of caution to those bigots who are pushing this country to the brink of disaster with their utterances and violent conduct against other peace-loving Nigerians who do not subscribe to their political views or speak their language,” LP warned.
The governors, on their part also accused the DSS of overheating the polity by not arresting those it claimed were plotting to foist an interim government on the nation.
While calling on the DSS to arrest those behind the plot as a matter of urgency, the governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), noted: “governors condemned in the strongest terms, any unconstitutional means of regime change and pledged its commitment to continue to defend Nigeria’s democracy as elected leaders.
“In addition, the Forum believes that issuing statements without arrests is akin to heating up the polity and causing unwarranted tension in the country. It called on the DSS to do its job by immediately arresting and prosecuting all those involved in the plot as a matter of urgency.”
However, regardless of the perception anybody holds about the situation playing out, the ruling party seems to be reaping the fruits of the seeds of discord they sowed in the past. The current political situation in the country is a child’s play to what it plunged the country into with their utterances, especially the threats to form a parallel government if the President Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP government rigged the 2015 presidential election.
Comments from both then Rivers state governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and APC national chairman, John Odigie Oyegun, during the APC salvation rally in Abuja, and the party’s campaign rally in Osun were reference points to attest to that.
Governor Amaechi had allegedly warned: “What is the essence of going to court when the Federal Government doesn’t obey the law? That’s why the APC says we won’t go to court any longer. If you rig us out, we will rig ourselves in; we will form our own government. We have met on that and we have agreed on that. We will install our own government and there would be two governments.”
On his own side, Odigie-Oyegun, at Osogbo Township Stadium, Osogbo, said that; “the battle line has already been drawn. The APC will no longer accept any stolen mandate. We shall not recognize any government that emerges through rigging in February 2015. The APC will set up a new government, which will be a people’s government if the PDP rigs the 2015 Presidential election”
Still beating war drums through its spokesperson, Lai Mohammed, the then-opposition warned that; “those fretting about this statement are those who are planning to rig the elections and they should be warned that Nigerians will no longer accept the outcome of any fraudulent polls. Those who incite the people are those who steal their mandate.
“What we made is a conditional statement. If A happens, then B will follow. That means if elections are not rigged, there will be no problem. It is therefore laughable that anyone will call that statement treasonable. There is no higher treason than the subversion of the people’s will.
“Let us remind the presidency, in case it has forgotten, that election fraud triggered a civil war in Algeria in the early 1990s, led to the killing of over 1,000 people in post-election riots in Kenya in 2007/2008 and fired a near revolution in Iran in 2009/2010.
“Electoral frauds also corrupt democracy and breed dictatorship, and risks making the people lose confidence in democracy. Why then would any government react violently if warned against election rigging?” the party queried then.
But the tide seems to have changed with the APC now on the receiving end of the warning they unleash on Nigerians and government in power than before the 2015 presidential election.
And refusing to accept the same measures they used in giving others then, the party and President-elect have deployed all manners of intimidating tactics and instruments to cow the opposition, including instigating clampdown on media outfits that gave a platform to the opposition.
“Whatever that is happening now would be very insignificant to what the APC would have plunged the country into if they had lost the 2015 presidential election. They are progressing in error in the way and manner they are handling the situation. If I were the president-elect, I should be exploring avenues to win the favour of Nigerians instead of the draconian approach they are adopting. We can only watch to see how events finally play out,” a stalwart of the ruling party told Daily Sun on condition of anonymity.
