COVER Alleged Interim Government Plan Unsettles Polity

BY AMOS ESELE

It remained in the realm of rumour until Thursday, March 29, 2023. That day, the Directorate of State Services, DSS, openly admitted that politically-exposed persons in the country were plotting to introduce an Interim National Government, ING, in Nigeria.

Two things stood out in bold relief in the DSS statement by its spokesperson, Dr Peter Afunanya, who described the alleged plot as “the illegality,(which) is totally unacceptable in a democracy and to peace-loving Nigerians.”

The two are, according to him, planned protests in the country and court orders to block the transition to the new government on Democracy Day, May 29, 2029.

Explaining that President Muhammadu Buhari had already inaugurated a transition committee that would oversee the smooth transition of power to the next government, the DSS spokesman, who pledged the agency’s loyalty to the Federal Government and expressed its commitment to the transition of power, warned of dire consequences awaiting those plotting the ING.

Without mentioning names or disclosing the identity of any organisation behind the alleged plotters, the public confirmation by the spy agency opened itself to guesswork.

Attempts to reach Afunanya for further clarification on Friday failed as he refused to answer calls put through to his phone or respond to text messages.

“They are flying a kite. They have an agenda,” 94-year old leader of Afenifere, Yoruba social and political organisation, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, however, told THEWILL on Friday.

On Tuesday, Adebanjo’s political group, which teamed up with its South-East counterpart, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Middle Belt Forum and Pan-Niger Delta Forum and endorsed the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, for the February 25, 2023 presidential poll, issued a post- election statement on Tuesday, March 26, 2023, saying that based on available evidence at its disposal, Obi won the February 25, 2023 election.

Asked if he thinks his organisation is one of those referred to in the DSS statement, he replied: “We are saying that the process of an election is full of irregularities. Let the courts and the Election Tribunal adjudicate over the matter. With the badly conducted election, they know that people will protest or go to court. So they are preparing the grounds for arrests. I suspect they have an agenda.”

In the case of the LP, whose vice-presidential candidate, Dr Baba Datti-Ahmed, on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 Channels TV programme Politics Today, called on President Buhari and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court not to commit unconstitutionality by swearing-in President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on May 29, 2023 (for which Channels was on Friday fined N5 Million by the National Broadcasting Commission), LP Spokesperson, Tanko Yinusa, is evasive. He told THEWILL in an interview that the party, like the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and All Progressives Congress, APC, have distanced themselves from the alleged ING plan.

“We are in court over election matters and we are waiting for pronouncements on our case, that is all for now,” he said, volunteering when pressed further, that “those who are likely to be pushing for the ING are those