The presidential campaign councils of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP) yesterday accused each other of being a security risk to the nation’s democracy.
They, therefore, called on relevant security agencies to be on the alert over the activities of their members.
Their calls followed a trending video by one Powell Glad Legbe (on his Facebook page) calling on Yorubas not to vote for Peter Obi.
A spokesman for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, had on Monday accused Obi and some of his supporters of circulating the “incendiary video.”
Keyamo claimed that the video “wrongly and wickedly” attributed the quote to an amorphous ‘Tinubu group’ to create the impression that it was the handiwork of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Keyamo, who is also the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, also alleged that the LP candidate was planning to fake an assassination attempt and hire some supporters dressed in APC caps and t-shirts to attack his (Obi) party offices.
Reacting yesterday to the call and allegation by the minister, the National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Abayomi Arabambi, asked the service chiefs to place him (Keyamo) on the security watchlist.
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Arabambi described Keyamo’s utterance as ‘treasonable conduct’
He added: “President Muhammadu Buhari must now, as a matter of urgency, direct the service chiefs to place Festus Keyamo and other APC presidential campaign members and supporters on a security watch list as they are now a threat to democracy ahead of the 2023 general election.
“I call on the Inspector-General of Police (Usman Alkali) to urgently commence a comprehensive investigation into Mr Festus Keyamo’s unlawful and treasonable activities.
“His conducts are likely to cause a breach of peace and anarchy in our country if this ugly trend is not nipped in the bud and Keyamo be made to face possible prosecution in the court of law.”
But in a statement yesterday, Keyamo said: “I also call on the security agencies to place Mr. Peter Obi and some of his supporters on a terror watch list for circulating the incendiary video with a fake message by one of his supporters called Powell Glad Legbe (on his Facebook page) calling on Yorubas not to vote for Peter Obi.
“Mr. Peter Obi then wrongly and wickedly attributed that quote to an amorphous ‘Tinubu group.’”
“Up till now, he (Peter Obi) has not withdrawn his accusation nor has he apologised to our candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“It is obvious Mr. Peter Obi wants to cause religious and tribal crises in the country and for this, I call on the security agencies to place Mr. Peter Obi on security watch or invite him for a thorough investigation.
“If necessary, I am prepared to be invited too as a witness to prove my case against him.”