The pan-Yoruba Socio-political organisation, the Afenifere Renewal Group, has warned against the formation of an interim government or any step that could jeopardise the handing over of the rein of power to elected officers by May 29, 2023.
The warning, which was contained in a press release signed by the organisation’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, was prompted by reports of steps being taken that may be prejudicial to the swearing-in of winners of the just concluded elections, come May 29th, 2023.
Ajayi said such steps included the attempts to rubbish the outcome of the elections, especially the presidential election that took place on February 25th; the resuscitation of the calls for the formation of an Interim Government; and protests or rallies being conducted, especially in Abuja and the United States of America, against the result of the said election.
He stated that the Afenifere felt so concerned about the untoward development because of how it is gaining currency in the country and even outside the shores of the land.
The Afenifere spokesman reminded those he said are fanning embers of non-inauguration to be aware that the monster being courted would affect not only the Presidency to be headed by the winner of the election, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, but also all other tiers of government, governors at the state levels, the legislatures at the national and state levels, and perhaps the local government areas.
Ajayi, who called for caution, explained that the laws of the land had created avenues for seeking redress when aggrieved and enjoined those who may not be satisfied with the outcome of the concluded elections to seek redress through the established channels and not through any other means.
He stated: “It is also important to let members of the public realise that anything short of following due process, particularly in the swearing-in of winners of the just-concluded elections, constitutes grave dangers for the country. This must not be accepted or encouraged at all because of its dire consequences.”
Ajayi also called on the Judiciary not to entertain cases that may be brought to derail the hard-earned civil rule and thus scuttle the country’s democracy.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of All Progressives Congress (APC) the President-elect. Presently, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Mr. Peter Obi of Labour Party, first and second runners-up in the presidential election, are challenging Tinubu’s victory in the court.
“Going by the law of the land and experiences in the past, the fact that such cases are in the court cannot stop the inauguration. Meaning that a new government should take over in Nigeria come May 29. Changes can come later if the courts so decided,” the organisation asserted.
Ajayi said that an interim Government should not be allowed to happen because it is alien to the country’s law books and the country had an experience of it in the past, which was not only unpleasant, but also retrogressive, calling it a path that should not be tread again for any reason.
He stated: “Ordinarily, it could be said that the allegation of steps capable of jeopardising the handing over to the President-elect on May 29th is unreal. Doing so however would be playing the ostrich going by the confirmation by the DSS, opinions expressed against it by such groups and individual like the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Barrister Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), APC Governors’ Forum, etc.”
Ajayi noted that attention was being called to those things because some undiscerning youths may think that it is the way to go. “No, it is not. The way to go is to realise that there would always be winners and losers in elections. And the only option opened to the aggrieved is to go to court and not the street or to make inciting statements.”
He called on those insinuating that the allegation of an Interim Government plan might be a ruse to remember that most things of such nature always begin as rumours in Nigeria, saying: “since we know that it is fraught with danger, it is very necessary we make it known that it would be unacceptable.”
Ajayi called on the DSS and the Police to apprehend those suspected as being behind the nefarious plot, rather than just confirming the knowledge of it, noting that it is by doing so and taking the culprits to court that members of the public would believe that the security agency is not just crying wolf or selling a dummy.
He disclosed that the Directorate of State Services (DSS) had, last week, confirmed that moves were indeed on to scuttle the planned inauguration, stating that: “The planners, in their many meetings, have weighed various options, which include, among others, to sponsor endless violent mass protests in major cities to warrant a declaration of a State of Emergency.
“Another is to obtain frivolous court injunctions to forestall the inauguration of new executive administrations and legislative houses at the Federal and State levels,” the DSS disclosed.
The statement says the DSS, which is the country’s secret police, described those behind the move as people with ‘entrenched interests’ who are working on foisting an illegality that is “totally unacceptable in a democracy and to peace loving Nigerians.”
Olusola Akintonde
