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 who were calling for it before the conduct of the elections, people who thought the election may not go their way.”
Prior to the DSS statement, some protesters on the platform of the Free Nigeria Movement on Tuesday last week, urged President Buhari to annul the February 25 presidential election and set up an ING
In a counter-protest, pro-Tinubu protesters on the platform of ‘The Natives’, marched on Abuja streets on Monday, warning against the imposition of an ING.
Investigation by THEWILL reveals that unsubstantiated fears about hidden official hands suspected to be manipulating the handover of power may also be fueling the call for ING.
Apprehension over suspected official reluctance to supervise the electoral process smoothly with the traumatising cashless policy is yet to fade away, despite repeated assurances by President Buhari that he was awaiting the May 29 handover date with great expectation and the transition committee was well on track.
But are protesters likely to heed the DSS warning?
MORE PROTESTS COMING
Maverick Charles Oputa, a.k.a Charly Boy, who has been mobilising the youths in readiness for post-election protests across Nigeria, as he announced on his Twitter handle last week, said the DSS statement would not deter them.
He told THEWILL last week that what slowed down the pace of mobilisation is his determination to calm the angry youths so that they all could organise a peaceful protest that would be free from infiltration and disruption by hoodlums.
Charly Boy, who has become an advocate of the masses fighting for their rights, told this newspaper, “It is our civic right to protest against impunity as long as it is orderly. It is going to be all over the country. It is for the love of the country. Can leadership inspire anybody in Nigeria today? People in saner climes are thinking of progress, we are doing something different. We will do it within the law.”
He said the date was yet to be fixed because he was having a big time “calming many of the boys who are angry,” adding, “I have asked them to chill, because when you are angry you can make costly mistakes.”
INTERIM NATIONAL GOVERNMENT IN RECENT HISTORY
The Interim National Government was first muted in by the fading government of former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (retd.), whose government annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election widely believed to have been won by Chief M K O Abiola, thus plunging the Third Republic into crisis. In an attempt to avoid the looming danger, General Babangida handed power over to corporate guru, Ernest Shonekan, as interim Head of State on August 27, 1993. The largely powerless government was dissolved by General Sani Abacha, who seized power on November17, 1993.
Twenty-nine years later, the call for ING resurfaced. This time, it was championed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chief Afe Babalola, founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Ekiti State.
In April 19 2022, Babalola called on the Federal Government to suspend plans for the 2023 general elections and opt for a stop-gap interim government.
According to the legal luminary, using the current Constitution to conduct another election in Nigeria would only reproduce the faulty leadership and system being experienced in the country.
At the media parley organised at ABUAD on that day, Babalola said, “As soon as the President, the present government completes its term, do not hold a new election,” he proposed. “Rather, let us have an interim government for a short period to discuss a new Constitution.
“This will consist of all retired presidents, vice Presidents, governors, and some selected people.”
“Moneybags now control the lever of powers, if we allow the present Constitution beyond 2023, what we will be getting is recycling leadership who will continue the old ways.”
REACTIONS
Although Babalola’s call attracted a passing attention, a similar call, according to the DSS, has attracted condemnation, surprisingly more from his juniors at the bar.
Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN; Presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar; Social Democratic Party, SDP, Adewole Adebayo and Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Advisory Committee, IPAC, have all condemned the call for ING and urged the authorities to prosecute the identified promoters.
On Friday, while handing over office to Justice Mary Odili, his successor as Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, described as an aberration and an invitation to anarchy, the sudden call for an interim government in a democracy where elections had just been held and certificates of return issued to winners.
Speaking in Abuja at a public function organised in his honour by the Body of Benchers (BoB) to mark the end of his tenure as the Chairman of the prestigious organisation, he said : “It is unconstitutional. To me, it comes from the pit of hell. Calling for an interim national government? Where did you get it from? How do you compartmentalise it? How do you accommodate it within a constitutional democracy? As a lawyer, I don’t know the jurisprudence that will accommodate it.”
WHAT WAY FORWARD
Security expert, Kabir Adamu, on Friday said that it is good that the DSS alerted the public to an existential threat to the democratisation process in the country. For him, politicians are capable of anything, particularly when they have invested heavily in an election and eventually lost. He however advised the DSS to be more proactive in doing their work. He suggested ways the spy agency can go about it.
Advising against arrests of prominent opposition political leaders which could create more problems, he said the DSS has the capacity to de-escalate the problem through statecraft.
“By trailing suspects, studying their works and investigating them through cyberspace surveillance could be one effective way to handle the situation. Another would be to form the habit of inviting potential suspects for questioning and issuing warnings to them after interrogations,” he said.
For Pa Adebanjo, ”the DSS exists not to tell the public about danger but to to tell those who can prevent danger, the police for instance. When they come to the public and raise an alarm, they raise the tempo in the society.”
On the possibility of a looming anarchy in the country given that no culprit has been identified and arrests made not to talk of prosecution to serve as deterrent, the elder statesman said, “Only the judiciary can save the country now. Their decision on the post- election matters before them can make or mar the country because you cannot have peace without justice.”
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
