THE Chief Spokesman for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, has called the allegations in the petition sent to the Department of State Services by his All Progressives Congress PCC counterpart, Festus Keyamo, “baseless.”
Tanko’s reaction comes just hours after Keyamo wrote to the DSS accusing the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, of making incendiary remarks capable of inciting a rebellion against the Federal Government and President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Among other things, the Minister of State for Labour, Employment, and Productivity claimed that Obi hired young social media influencers to post inciting messages on social media in order to create post-election panic among Nigerians.
However, subsequent attempts by The PUNCH to persuade Keyamo to validate the claims were futile.
He specifically refused to reveal the name or exact location of the hotel where the social media influencers were allegedly staying in Abuja.
Instead, Keyamo insisted that such sensitive information was intended for security agents and not for public consumption.
In a chat with The PUNCH, Tanko slammed the minister, saying that despite his claim to be a “patriotic citizen,” he avoided coming clean on issues of national concern.
The LP campaign spokesman while denying that Datti called for insurrection or committed any treasonable act, added that Obi’s running mate was a free man with the fundamental right to freedom of expression.
He said, “Keyamo is just making baseless accusations. He’s a known rabble-rouser who doesn’t want to lose political relevance before his paymaster. He is a political paperweight, who has achieved nothing as a minister except … to rile up the polity on social media.
“Datti is a free citizen of this country and entitled to his fundamental right of Freedom of Expression. He never called for insurrection or any act envisaging treason.
“The fact that Keyamo talked about healing means Nigeria is sick. That means he recognised that the February 25 presidential election which announced his principal as the President-elect and the March 18 governorship and state assembly polls were marred with rigging, high-level violence, voter suppression and intimidation.”
