CSO: Foreign, local agents working to thwart Tinubu’s inauguration

Ali Ali, coordinator of the Peace and Stability Initiative (PSI), says the organisation has uncovered plans by local and foreign interests to thwart the May 29 inauguration of the new administration in the country.

In a statement on Thursday, Ali said foreign agents collaborating with local organisations masquerading as civil society groups are at the centre of the plot.

He said the plans have been in the works since Tinubu was announced as the president-elect on March 1.

“These agents of destabilisation have not relented in their evil plots even though we are just a few days away to the May 29, 2023 inauguration of a new central government that will be led by the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the statement reads.

“Intelligence reports indicate a new plot by local opposition elements goaded by a foreign union to release a harebrained, skewed and stage-managed final report on the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, with emphasis on the presidential election.

“The heavily slanted report, based on the views of biased observers, will be released any moment from now. It shares the same denunciatory tone like the one released in March.

“The release is deliberately timed to achieve two sinister objectives. One is to dampen the celebratory mood in our country ahead of the inauguration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and delegitimise the incoming All Progressives Congress government that will be led by him.

“Second is to intimidate and hope to influence the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court that has just commenced the process of adjudicating on the petitions before it.”

Ali described the plot as a “busybody and meddlesome” and said the “international development agency” at the helm of the plot has constituted itself into an interloper in Nigeria’s internal affairs.

“Nigeria is a sovereign state. It is no longer a vassal state, tied to the apron strings of neo-colonialists, that can be harassed by special foreign interests seeking to cause internal strife,” the PSI coordinator said.

He maintained that the recent general election “was the most peaceful, transparent, free and fair election in Nigeria since 1999 as attested to by all non-partisan foreign and local observers”.

“Despite challenges and sometimes boisterous nature of our politics, Nigeria’s democracy and democratic culture are maturing. It can only get better and stronger to deliver better governance outcomes to all Nigerians when it is nurtured and protected by all men and women of goodwill,” Ali added.

“Since aggrieved parties that participated in the 2023 general elections have followed the rule of law by submitting themselves to the election petition tribunals, we appeal once again to them and their foreign collaborators to allow the already activated process to run its full course without intimidation and undue external pressure. That is the only way to preserve the sovereign integrity of our country.”