If you’ve been
living under a rock and just emerged to the raucous debates between supporters
of leading politicians, you’d be forgiven for thinking the presidential
election was just last weekend.
Nearly two months after the February 25 poll, the ripple
effects continue to rip through the country. Claims of stolen mandates have
remained a strong mantra among political parties that lost the election while
spokespersons and stakeholders are still pitched in a battle of allegations and
jibes as ferocious as before the polls.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was
declared the winner of the presidential poll, but other political parties have
disputed the victory and filed petitions. Although Peter Obi of the Labour
Party (LP) finished third in the race, he has largely remained at the
heart of the conversation, outshining Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) who was second in the election.
Obi’s young, social media-savvy supporters, dubbed
‘Obidients’, have remained vocal and relentless. Despite the criticism of the
movement for being mob-like in its approach, it has waxed stronger. The
movement’s significant opponents have been none other than the APC faithful and
Tinubu loyalists, otherwise known as ‘Batists’.
Both groups have continued to wrestle with each other in a
contest of narratives.
Obi had recently enjoined his supporters to bear the attacks they received as
a “sacrifice for a new Nigeria”. He urged them not to yield to an alleged plot
to demarket the Obidient movement. The Batists, on the other hand, appear
determined to match the Obidients’ social media agility. This has led to
fiercer political spats and a battle to dominate social media trends.
Here is a timeline of key events that have seen both sides
square up against each other in the struggle for the soul of a “new Nigeria”.
ALLEGED CJN-TINUBU MEETING IN LONDON
Barely a month after the presidential election, both groups
of supporters kicked off a campaign of allegations and the pendulum of blames
swung back and forth.
On March 23, a report began circulating online that
Olukayode Ariwoola, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), had disguised himself in a
wheelchair and travelled to London where he was to meet with Tinubu.
The report surfaced shortly after the president-elect had
travelled to France.
On social media, allegations of foul play were tabled
against the CJN ahead of the presidential election tribunal hearing.
The APC presidential campaign council was the first to refute the
report of the purported meeting.
“We refute emphatically that there has been no clandestine
meeting between the president-elect and the respected chief justice of our
country, anywhere. It’s pure fabricated news, groundless in fact and
authenticity,” the campaign council said.
The following day, a video of Ariwoola
attending Jumat service in Abuja was released. The short footage showed the CJN
using a walking stick as he ambled to the praying ground.
Later that same day, the supreme court denied claims of the
secret meeting, adding that the CJN travelled out of Nigeria for medical care
and was accompanied by Gambo Saleh, NJC’s secretary.
Many within the APC accused the opposition of coming up with
the allegations to disrupt the electoral process.
In response, Jibrin Okutepa, a member of Obi’s legal
team, said his client was not behind the news of the alleged
meeting between Tinubu and CJN.
He added that “those who are attributing the news which was
intended to denigrate the CJN to Mr Obi camp are evil and enemies of Nigeria.”
‘YES, DADDY’
A few days after the CJN controversy, Obi’s camp found
itself on the defensive.
On April 2, an
audio clip began circulating on social media. In the recording, a voice
similar to that of Obi was heard asking Bishop David Oyedepo to speak to the
Christians in the south-west and Kwara to vote for him in the presidential
poll, describing the election as a “religious war”.
APC supporters latched on to the leaked tape and claimed it
was authentic — but Obidients described it as fake.
However, the conversation took a curious turn when Kenneth
Okonkwo, a spokesperson of the LP campaign, insinuated that the clip was authentic.
He added that “political criminals are trying to spin the
conversation as if the LP candidate was making a religious comment”.
Okonkwo claimed that “Obi was simply urging the Bishop to
help him push this message of equal stake of all Nigerians” to Christians
because “politicians of the other party are carrying on this campaign as if it
is a religious war”.
But in a statement released later that day, Diran Onifade,
head of the LP campaign, and Yunusa Tanko, the council’s chief spokesperson,
dismissed the audio as a deep fake and
accused the APC of trying to demarket Obi.
In his response, Oyedepo said he has never and will not campaign for any political
candidate.
However, the cleric neither confirmed nor denied that the
conversation took place.
A few days later, Obi later disowned the tape as fake, adding that it was a move by APC
“to divert our attention from our blatantly stolen mandate”.
LAI MOHAMMED: OBI, DATTI INVITING INSURRECTION
Amid the “Yes, Daddy” brouhaha and its fallout, the Batists
took another swing at Obi and his supporters.
A few weeks prior, Datti Baba-Ahmed, vice-presidential
candidate of LP, had said the
country has no president-elect.
The LP vice-presidential candidate said Tinubu would lead an
unconstitutional government if sworn into office because the APC candidate “has
not met requirements of the law”.
His comments elicited widespread criticism from political
stakeholders and led to a ripple of reactions.
Reacting to the outburst, Festus Keyamo, minister of state
for labour, accused LP
of “setting up a scene for rebellion” against the judiciary.
The minister added that Datti was attempting to “blackmail”
the judiciary with his interpretation of section 134 (2) 1999 constitution (as
amended).
On his part, Femi Fani-Kayode, new media director of the APC
presidential campaign council, accused Datti
of trying to “pull down democracy” because his party lost the election.
APC also petitioned the
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to sanction Channels Television for
airing the interview, adding that it was not only “divisive, subversive, but
also inciting and inflammatory”. The TV station would later be fined N5 million
by NBC for the interview.
All these played out amid an announcement by the Department of State Services (DSS) that
“some key players” were plotting to install an interim government and stop
Tinubu from being inaugurated as president.
The security service said the plot includes embarking on
violent protests nationwide to engineer the declaration of a state of emergency
and securing frivolous court injunctions to stall the inauguration.
The situation made for a fertile ground for the federal
government to point fingers — and soon it did.
On April 4, Lai Mohammed, minister for information, accused Peter Obi, LP
presidential candidate, of inciting people to violence over the outcome of the
presidential election.
Lai wielded the stick of “treason” to describe the conduct
of the LP presidential and vice-presidential candidates. He painted them as
“desperate” politicians seeking to incite insurrection.
“This is treason. You cannot be inviting insurrection, and
this is what they are doing,” the minister said.
“Obi’s statement is that of a desperate person, he is not
the democrat that he claimed to be.
“A democrat should not believe in democracy only when he
wins the election.”
However, Edwin Clark, an Ijaw national leader and convener
of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), said Mohammed should be prosecuted for spreading fake news
against Obi.
Clark who endorsed Obi before the presidential election
added that it is “unpatriotic and wicked” for anyone to accuse the former
Anambra governor of inciting insurrection.
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