• Ask DSS to back claims with facts
By Romanus Ugwu, Chinelo Obogo and Chukwudi Nweje
The raging controversy over alleged plot to scuttle the inauguration of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, is not in a hurry to abate.
Recently, the Department of State Services (DSS) raised the alarm of a plot to install an Interim National Government (ING) after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
Speaking to Daily Sun in separate interviews last night, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF) and the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) weighed in and challenged the secret police to back its claims with fact.
The groups cautioned against growing insinuations of a plot to impose an illegal contraction when the tenure of President Buhari expires on May 29. They noted that the idea was unconstitutional and not in the best interest of Nigeria.
ING was the government of Nigeria following the crisis that rocked the June 12, 1993 election after which General Ibrahim Babangida handed power over to the late Chief Ernest Shonekan as interim Head of State on 27 August 1993. The political contraption was dissolved when General Sani Abacha seized power on November 17, 1993.
In a statement issued on Friday by the APC governors under the aegis of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) had said it was ironic that after the presidential, National Assembly, gubernatorial and state Assembly elections in which all the major parties recorded varying successes and disappointments in different constituencies, “some self-serving individuals are unfortunately seeking to sabotage the country’s democratic progress.”
Its Chairman and Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, noted: “The PGF notes the press statement issued by the Department of Security Service on the unfortunate, condemnable and treasonable conduct of some undemocratic elements who are agitating for an interim government. We condemn such agitation. It is commendable that the Department of Security Service exposed the plot and we call upon them to arrest and prosecute anyone involved.”
Prominent Nigerians and organisations have also flayed the alleged plot with the the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) disassociating themselves from it.
Speaking yesterday, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, dismissed the speculations of an interim government, saying the arrangement was alien to the Nigerian constitution.
He said: “In every conflict situation, something else comes out; there is what is called thesis and antithesis. The Peter Obi factor in the 2023 elections changed the dynamics of Nigeria. It is no longer business as usual; if it were left to the APC and the PDP, nothing new would come out. At the end of the day, something new will happen to Nigeria different from what it used to be. But I don’t know what those talking about Interim Government are saying.”
President of AYCF, Yerima Shettima, noted that an interim government, apart from being unconstitutional, is the most expensive joke anybody can play on Nigeria, as such would throw the country into crisis.
“Those of us who have made so much sacrifice for this democracy will not fold our hands and allow anybody to do anything that will threaten democracy.
“Those talking about interim government should know that it is dead on arrival. Anybody that has any grudges with the election that was held should go to court and seek redress and let the court do the needful.”
President of MBF, Bitrus Pogu, told Daily Sun he believed the DSS was just flying a kite to gauge the reaction of Nigerians.
“The alarm by the DSS is quite surprising because the security agency was not created for speculation. So, I am suspicious of the information in the first place. It is either they are flying a kite to gauge the reaction of Nigerians and also playing a game, we don’t know.
“Maybe there is an intention for that and they want to see the reaction of Nigerians. Otherwise, what has the foremost security agency in Nigeria have to do with telling us that some people are planning to install an interim government.
“Who is planning such a thing? We are in a constitutional democracy where there is no room for such a thing,” he said.
Corroborating his position, a highly placed source in the APC who declined to be mentioned also queried why the DSS should expose its strategic tactics but urged the opposition to wake up to the reality that election is gone.
He told Daily Sun: “It has become difficult for LP and other opposition parties to overcome the hangover of their loss on the February 25 presidential election. We know they are still nursing the injury our party inflicted on them, but they should wake up to the reality that the election has been won and lost and plotting for an interim government will not work. Yes, I don’t support turning the DSS into a propaganda machine but the election has been concluded.”
He said LP and other opposition parties, still nursing the injury of the defeat it suffered in the presidential election, will stop at nothing in ensuring they scuttle the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.