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The Department of State Services DSS has invited a spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Femi Fani-Kayode, over allegations of a coup plot ahead of the February election.
Fani-Kayode, a former minister under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, confirmed the invitation in a statement on Monday.
He added that he would honour the invitation.
Fani-Kayode, in a tweet, alleged that some top army personnel met with some politicians, including the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, in a bid to scuttle the February 25 general election.
He added that the meeting might be part of an agenda to provoke a coup and establish a new and unconstitutional order in the country.
But, in a statement on Saturday, February 12, 2023, the Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Tukur Gusau, advised Nigerians to disregard Fani-Kayode’s tweets, stressing the Armed Forces’ loyalty to the constitution.
Gusau also expressed dismay that even politically exposed persons had denigrated themselves by joining agents of destabilisation.
He said: “It needs to be stated that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is a professional military that is loyal to the Constitution of the Federal Republic and will never be part of any evil plot against our democracy. Besides, the military remains apolitical and neutral in the current political process and will not engage in the alleged shenanigans.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria will never be part of any ignoble plot to truncate our hard-earned democracy.”
In his reaction, Atiku, in a statement by his Special Assistant, Public Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, asked the DSS and other security agencies to invite Fani-Kayode to explain his insinuations of a coup d’etat by top army generals and himself.
He wrote, “Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have bothered responding to Fani-Kayode who has over the years built a reputation of being an inveterate liar so much so that he was even publicly blacklisted by the Nigeria Union of Journalists after his disgraceful outburst at a journalist.
“However, allegations and insinuations of a coup should not be taken lightly given the fact that it is treason, an offence that carries the death penalty.
“While commending the Nigerian military for effectively rubbishing Fani-Kayode’s barefaced lie, we call on security agencies to invite him to shed more light on the allegations.”