On March 29, the Department of State Services (DSS) claimed it had confirmed plots by some political actors to install an illegal interim government in Nigeria. In a statement, the DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, said the secret police had identified some key persons behind the alleged plots. The statement noted that the plots were being planned through protests and court orders to block the transition of power to the next government. It warned those ‘organising to thwart democracy in the country to retract from their devious schemes and orchestrations,’ noting that it would not ‘hesitate to take decisive and necessary legal steps against these misguided elements to frustrate their obvious intentions.’

A few days before the alarm, President-elect, Bola Tinubu’s Director, Public Affairs and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, had also alerted the nation to alleged plots to truncate the transition process and install an interim government. He had earlier written a petition to the DSS accusing the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, and his running mate, Dr. Yusuf Datti-Ahmed, of incendiary comments over the outcome of the presidential election. He implored the secret police to arrest and prosecute Obi and Baba-Ahmed for incitement and treasonable felony.

Nigeria had a presidential election on February 25, 2023. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu winner of that election. The declaration did not go down well with a number of people, especially the opposition. The main opposition party candidates, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have challenged the outcome at the election tribunal. All stakeholders are supposed to exercise patience and await the verdict of the court.

But, the claims on plots to install an interim government indicate some sinister moves to preempt the court. The pertinent questions are: at what point did the DSS receive the interim government revelation? And how will it come about? It is obvious that a civilian government cannot install an interim government. That will be unconstitutional.

No doubt, there have been pockets of protests for and against the conduct of the presidential election. Some of the protesters reportedly called for an interim government pending the determination of the cases at the tribunal. Does this demand by a few protesters amount to plots to install an interim government?

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It is pertinent to note that President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to hand over peacefully to the President-elect on May 29. Preparations for this are in top gear. Incidentally, the Presidency issued a statement recently debunking a media report that Buhari would not hand over to Tinubu. It described it as outrageous and fake. In the statement, presidential aide, Garba Shehu, said the transition committee the President constituted to ensure smooth handover of power was working. ‘So far, everything is going very well and there is no indication of any hitches,’ Shehu said.

So, where will this interim government come from? Almost every year, the secret police cry out over alleged plots to destabilise the country by those they call subversive elements. They did so in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. The allegation in 2021 was that there was a coup plot in Nigeria. Mid-2021, the Presidency relied on the alarm by the DSS to alert the nation to an alleged subliminal plot by some disgruntled religious and past political leaders and foreigners to stage a coup in the country.

The DSS must be mindful of raising unnecessary alarm that could heat up the polity. We abhor any action that will truncate the smooth transition of power from the outgoing government to the incoming one. Nigeria’s constitution has no place for an interim government. There are processes and procedures for handing over from one administration to another. Such processes must be duly followed.

If the DSS has concrete evidence that some political actors are plotting to install an interim government, it should name, arrest and prosecute those involved. Otherwise, let it conduct its affairs as discreet as possible without necessarily raising the alarm.

It must be stated that people have legitimate right to engage in peaceful protest if they feel aggrieved over some developments in the country. We hope the DSS is not preparing ground for the intimidation and harassment of citizens who have decided to exercise their right to freedom of speech and protests. If the elections were conducted in a free, fair and credible manner, there would not be any need for heightened agitations and protests. And the DSS would not have any need to start raising the alarm on interim government. It behoves on people in government to deliver quality leadership which is an antidote to protests. Many Nigerians are beginning to lose hope in the democracy. The DSS should not add to their despair. It should not use the interim government scare to intimidate, harass and arrest critics of the administration and members of the opposition.