Some concerned elders across the country have said they are unsettled by the recent remark made by Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, about Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Recall that Keyamo had claimed that Obi was planning to stage an assassination attempt, which he will blame on the All Progressives Congress and then use it to curry sympathy ahead of the 2023 election.
Reacting to Keyamo’s claim, the elders under the aegis of the Conference of Nigerian Elders for Peace and Good Governance (CNEPGG), vowed to hold Keyamo responsible if anything happens to Peter Obi.
The urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, to call the minister over the assassination claim against Obi.
Condemning Keyamo’s claim, the elders said Keyamo’s claim might be exactly what is being plotted against Obi.
In a statement jointly signed by its National Coordinator, Prof Dele Banjo and Mallam Hamza Shinkafi, National Secretary, the concerned elders tasked relevant security agencies to invite Keyamo for interrogation urgently.
“We are of the view, that extending invitation to the minister of labour and employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo, will enable him provide evidence on his allegation that the LP presidential candidate, a man so loved by many, was planning to stage an assassination attempt.
“We warn that should anything happen to our dear son, Obi, Keyamo and his party would be held responsible, more so that many concerned Nigerians feel it is what is being plotted, that the minister presented in a different way.”
The elders enjoined politicians and their followers to ensure that they play by the rules, noting that at the end of the day, only one person will emerge as Nigeria’s President.
They admonished that the interest of Nigeria should take precedence over personal ambition as Nigeria will outlive all of them.
It added: “Our attention was drawn to a very shocking and embarrassing statement made by a supposed Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Barr Festus Keyamo, one of the spokesmen of the APC presidential candidate, that the peoples’ candidate, the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, is arranging for his own attempted assassination to give APC, a bad name.
“We say nothing can be funnier and more desperate than this statement because it is an established fact that desperation is the slogan, and identity of the APC presidential candidate and his team.
“We are, however, worried that this false claim by Keyamo may just be exactly what his party may be plotting against the popular Presidential candidate of LP, and by the special grace of God, has the support of millions of Nigerian voters.
“It is important to send this warning to those that may be plotting against Obi: touch the LP candidate, and you will feel the resolve of the teeming youth population across ethnic, religious and other divides in the nation.
“In any case, no amount of desperation by Keyamo and his cohorts in the APC will change the direction of the majority of the votes in the 2023 presidential poll.
“In unison, Nigerians have agreed to give their youthful presidential candidate a chance to redirect and refocus Nigeria on the part of prosperity, and greatness, which has continued to elude it, as a result of corruption, maladministration and incompetence of past and present leaders”.
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