Atiku wants Lai Mohammed arrested for claiming that he plans to overthrow the government

FORMER vice president and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has called for the arrest of information minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed over recent comments in which he accused him of planning to overthrow the government.

 

In February this year, Alhaji Abubakar stood against President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in presidential elections, which the incumbent won. However, Alhaji Abubakar has refused to accept the results, saying he was robbed of his mandate and the matter is now before the elections tribunal.

 

With the political temperature rising, Alhaji Mohammed upped the ante by claiming that Alhaji Abubakar is planning to ferment violence and overthrow the government. Earlier this week, Alhaji Abubakar said there are also plans by some people to cause crisis in parts of the country and accuse him of being responsible for the skirmishes.

 

He said the plan, being spearheaded by those he described as unscrupulous and anti-democratic elements, aimed at smearing his personality. Yesterday, Alhaji Abubakar added to this by calling for the arrest of Alhaji Mohammed over his unsubstantiated allegation against him.

 

In a statement issued by the PDP on behalf of Alhaji Abubakar, the opposition said: “We wish to blow the whistle as an early warning alert of the grandiose scheme being put together by some unscrupulous elements aimed at jeopardising the reputation of His Excellency Atiku Abubakar in the coming days and weeks. By the merit of what is beginning to unfold, there are plans to create some upset across the country whereby alleged perpetrators of such crimes will engage in phantom dropping of name of Atiku Abubakar and some senior personalities in the Peoples Democratic Party.

 

“Already, we are abreast of some other plans to plant fictitious stories in some mushroom media outlets aimed at discrediting Atiku and his political party, the PDP. It therefore becomes preponderant that we alert the public to this demonic plan and to say that it will be imprudent to compromise the peace and security of Nigerians in order to score a cheap political goal.

 

“Towards this end, and for the umpteenth time, we call on the federal government to be awake to its responsibilities of providing security and ensuring peace and to desist from actions and utterances that are capable of exposing our fault lines. It is very unsettling that senior administration officials, especially those who are the mouthpiece of government will make reckless but calculated comments to tarnish the image of Atiku Abubakar and government will sit idly on it.

 

“With the conclusion reached by relevant security outfits that there is no proof to back the claim by Lai Mohammed that the opposition was planning to upstage the government, we demand that the information minister should be arrested for a breach of security and an apology tendered to Atiku Abubakar and the PDP.”

 

In its reaction, the federal government said the former vice president should have nothing to fear, pointing out that only the guilty are always afraid. Alhaji Mohamed himself added that the PDP should ask itself why it is afraid.

 

He added: “On Atiku’s statement, I guess the former vice president must have been reading, in recent times, James Hadley Chase’s 1957 thriller entitled. The Guilty are Afraid. That’s all I have to say.”

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