According to Punch newspaper, the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, on Monday, said a plot by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to form an interim government has been uncovered.
The minister said this in Lagos at the launch of a book titled, ‘Watch the Watcher,’ written by an activist, Yinka Odumakin, in reaction to Obasanjo’s controversial book, ‘My Watch’.
Adesiyan said he had already directed the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba; and the Department of State Service to arrest anybody that made inflammatory statements ahead of the 2015 elections.
He said, “Many of those in the APC are disgruntled PDP members who are no longer relevant and because they could not have their way, they have started to heat up the polity. They have said they will form a parallel government if they lose.
“I have already told the IG and the DSS to arrest anybody making such mutinous and inflammatory statements.”
Adesiyan said his suspicion was fuelled by a threat by the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, that the APC would form a parallel government if the 2015 general elections were rigged.
He added, “Obasanjo is already planning to install an interim government with Buhari. But we will vote and we will work with whoever wins the election.”
Adesiyan, who was detained in 2003 for the murder of the Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, said the former President was vindictive and was fighting Jonathan because he (Jonathan) had refused to be used by him.
The minister, who was later freed over Ige’s murder, said Obasanjo picked Jonathan as the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s running mate because he felt he could control him but his plans backfired.
The minister said, “He picked a President that was sick and while we were campaigning for the President, he (Yar’Adua) was always in Germany receiving treatment. While many were lobbying for the VP slot, Obasanjo picked a gentleman, Goodluck Jonathan, who had no strong political base so that he could control him.
“Unfortunately for Obasanjo, God had a better plan and Jonathan refused to be used. Obasanjo, being the man that he is, has now teamed up with Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar to snatch power but Tinubu will outsmart him because we Osun people are smart. Ask Tinubu, he is my brother, from my state. He is from Iragbiji while I am from Ode-Omu.”
The Director of Communications, Buhari Campaign Organisations, Dele Alake, said it was silly for anyone to say that Buhari was plotting the emergence of an interim government when Buhari was also participating in the presidential election.
He said, “It must have dawned on Nigerians that the PDP don’t have any answer to the multifarious problems plaguing Nigeria and that is why they have resorted to mudslinging and character assassination.
“If Buhari was planning an interim government, why would he be running for President in the first place? I think sanity has taken leave from them.
“Buhari remains the only viable solution to the quagmire that Nigeria has fallen into and it will take a disciplined person like Buhari to straighten things out.”
When contacted, a source close to Obasanjo, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was only the ex-president that could react to the allegation.
The source told our correspondent on the telephone, “It is only Baba that can react to the matter.” (Punch)