Obi Plans To Stage-Manage Fake Assassination Attempt – Keyamo 

Keyamo made the claim in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja.

Festus Keyamo, the All Progressives Congress campaign council’s director of media and public affairs and official spokesperson, claimed on Monday that Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi planned to stage an assassination attempt on himself and hire some supporters to attack some of his party offices while they were dressed in APC hats and T-shirts.

Even while this was happening, the minister of state for labor and employment accused the former governor of Anambra of disseminating a hateful video online to discredit Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC’s presidential candidate.

The assertion was made by Keyamo in a statement released on Monday in Abuja.

The minister said it was apparent Obi purposefully created the message and disseminated the offensive video himself as a campaign tactic while pushing Obi to disclose the source and name(s) of the perpetrator(s) behind the hazy WhatsApp message.

A two-day retreat for the Labour Party’s national officials, trade unions, and party candidates has just concluded when the claim was made.

The statement partly read, “Our attention has been drawn to an offensive, hate-filled video made and circulated by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, in which he accused an amorphous and non-existent “Tinubu’s Group” of spreading a WhatsApp message calling on the Yoruba people not to vote for him. The purported message, according to Mr. Obi, forewarned the Yoruba that a vote for Obi would be a vote for a seaport in South-South and South-East.

“We are also aware that plans are afoot by Mr. Peter Obi to fake an assassination attempt on himself and hire Labour Party boys dressed in the APC caps and T-shirts to attack some Labour Party offices. It is all part of the “US Plan”. It is the first in a series of incendiary actions planned by this ill-prepared but desperate candidate.

“Firstly, we vehemently deny the existence of any of such “Tinubu group” that made and circulated such a message. All groups supporting the APC presidential candidate and his running-mate have clear designations with well-known promoters. In addition, it is only messages released by the APC Presidential Campaign Council that are officially authorized and for which we take responsibility.

“As the takeoff date for campaigns draws closer, Mr. Peter Obi has suddenly realized that Nigerians are beginning to burst his bubbles as his messages are bereft of ideas, depth, and clear-cut solutions to our challenges. His messages are only full of false data and highfalutin jargons in what is clearly a disingenuous ruse to distract scrutiny of his empty records as a Governor of Anambra State and nothing else. Hence, his easy recourse to playing ethnic cards and fanning the ember of hate.

“We have in on good authority that part of the “US Strategy” (just like the failed “Dubai Strategy” his former boss and himself adopted in 2019) was to return to the country and spread ethnic hatred amongst the voters and cause chaos, then pose as the victim. They have just begun that plot by orchestrating and circulating the said video.

“We find it utterly disgusting, demeaning, and insulting to the sensitivities and sensibilities of Nigerians for a presidential candidate of the ilk of Peter Obi to make such a video parroting a spurious, unverified, and sham message that has the potential of deepening our fault lines as a nation and further promoting ethnic tensions. This is completely unbecoming of a presidential candidate that hopes to unite this country.

“Again, we note that Mr. OBJ’s latest stunt is consistent with what is now widely perceived as his adoption of hate as a campaign strategy, having consistently failed to rein in his known and identifiable supporters, mostly domiciled on social media, threatening political opponents with violence and death.

“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic origins or political divides, to rise up and condemn these tactless tactics and cheap maneuver by a desperate non-starter of a presidential candidate who has decided to resort to crude revisionism, ethnic jingoism, and crass insensitivity with a view to whipping up the undeserved sentiment to fuel his faltering ambition that is nothing but a flash in a pan. Our advice to Mr. Peter Obi is to quit the race if he has nothing more to tell Nigerians.”

Emeka Obasi, Obi’s media assistant, responded to Keyamo’s accusation by calling it fallacious.

The former Anambra State governor’s image creator expressed amazement that Keyamo was the source of the statement.

He said, “It is a fallacy! You media people should also know when you see something fallacious. Does Peter look like someone who pretends or fakes things? What do we gain to start faking assassination attempt? Are they in any way trying to carry out such an attempt and seeking on blaming Obi for it? The public deserves to know and that what we should put up in the press.

“Does Keyamo knows more than we know and just use this opportunity to cry wolf? What is his plan for uttering this kind of stupid statement? Does he think Obi is part of the Old Order who are always desperate for power? Whenever he says ‘Go and verify’, does it look like scheming?

“But we are aware of what Keyamo has done before. It is not out of place for him to say things like Obi is attempting to fake his assassination attempt? It is a terrible thing to say.”