Presidency plotting to frame, arrest Obi over planned protest – media office

This followed a claim by presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, who said Obi supporters are the ones behind the planned nationwide protest against President Bola Tinubu’s government.

In a lengthy post on X on Saturday, July 20, 2024, Onanuga said the former Anambra State Governor and his supporters should be held responsible for any mayhem that may occur in the protest.

Referring to Obi supporters, Onanuga said, “They are not democrats but anarchists,” adding that they plan to “destabilise Nigeria by staging a civilian coup against President Bola Tinubu.”

He also accused the organisers of the protest of lacking patience to wait for another cycle to unseat the President, alleging that it’s the same set of people that orchestrated the EndSARS protest of October 2020, which later turned violent.

Therefore, he urged security agents to interrogate the “agents of destabilisation” behind the demonstrations.

However, reacting to Onanuga’s remarks in a statement issued by its spokesman, Yunusa Tanko, the media office described the allegation as wild, wicked and baseless.

Yunusa also noted that the President was planning to use the planned protest to arrest the former Governor, stressing that the “unsubstantiated allegations are being orchestrated to arrest Obi and limit his freedom and association”.

Tanko stated that the allegation was an attempt to silence Obi’s propagation of good governance, which the president found injurious to their lavish lifestyle.

The statement reads, “The attention of the Peter Obi Media Reach, POMR, has been drawn to the wild, wicked and baseless allegations by one of the Spokespersons in the Presidency, Bayo Onanuga, accusing the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, of being the mastermind of a planned protest in the country.

“The statement even said that Obi should be held responsible for any mayhem that may occur in the protest. But POMR can report from good and reliable authority that these unsubstantiated allegations are being orchestrated to arrest Obi, limit his freedom and association and stop his propagation for good governance which they find injurious to their lavish lifestyle.

“Peter Obi, by his mien in and out of political office, has not in any way shown or been associated with violence even in the most obvious provocations. He has always shown, even during the electioneering, that he is issue-driven as he carries on without calling anybody’s name.

“POMR is also aware that multiple attack dogs have been hired and strategically deployed to ensure that Obi does not enjoy the ear of the Nigerian populace who are keen on hearing his voice on issues.

“These spine doctors and hirelings, to justify their pay, indulge in all kinds of falsehood ostensibly to distract Obi and confuse Nigerians who already see Obi as a suiting balm in the current turbulent political and economic environment.”