By Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi
The women wing of Labour Party, Bauchi State, yesterday condemned the call for the arrest of the vice Presidential candidate of the party, Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed.
The Chairperson of Bauchi LP, Women Wing, Hajara Moses John protested the call for Baba-Ahmed’s arrest at a news conference in Bauchi yesterday, describing it as mischievous and malicious.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo had called for Baba-Ahmed’s arrest for saying that the President-elect, Senator Ahmed Tinubu should not be sworn in.
Baba-Ahmed claimed that Tinubu should not be sworn in when the electoral process that produced the president-elect was still a subject of investigation before the election tribunal.
Keyamo, however, found Baba-Ahmed’s opinion a threat to national security, calling for his arrest in a television programme on Thursday
At the news conference yesterday, LP’s women leader said: “We expect Keyamo who is a lawyer to have jettisoned power drunkenness and come to terms with the opinion of our much respected vice presidential candidate who was only exercising freedom of expression as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.”
Moses said Keyamo’s call in a television program on Thursday over Datti’s stand on the outcome of the presidential election was done in bad faith and ill- timed considering the fact that the election was characterised by irregularities in so many states and our party was rigged out in the process.
She said: “It is fresh in the memory of Nigerians that our party which was underrated by the so-called biggest party for being structureless turned out to be a nightmare to the ruling APC not only during the presidential and National assembly elections, but also the governorship and House of Assembly elections.”
She described the feat “as a proof of our presidential candidate and his running mate’s popularity and goodwill among the people of Nigeria, especially the youth and the downtrodden.”
“We are very sure that Keyamo’s vituperation is not unconnected with the fear that his pay masters would lose in court and our stolen mandate given back to us.
“Keyamo knows that anyone who traverses the length and breadth of Nigeria will be bewildered by the acceptance of our presidential candidate and his running mate by the good people of Nigeria.
“It is because Nigerians so much believe in Obi/Datti visionary leadership and courage to dare things seeming too difficult to confront that made them trooped out en mass to various polling units across the country to vote for them as president and vice president respectively.
“As minister of state for labour and employment, he should have exercise more restraint and focus more of his energy on how to resolve the lingering issues between ASUU and the federal government so that our workers and especially our poor innocent students will not end up paying the price.
“It is, therefore, self-serving for Keyamo to call for the arrest of men Nigerians generally believe are men of character, competence and charisma whose footprint are visible to see and feel even at the International scene.”
