TheCable

Phrank Shaibu, an aide to Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has praised Ben Llewellyn-Jones, UK deputy high commissioner to Nigeria, for condemning ‘inciting’ comments by Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister.

On Sunday, Llewellyn-Jones reportedly condemned the comments made by Fani-Kayode, who is the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council’s director of new media.

The deputy high commissioner also restated the UK visa ban threat to those undermining democracy in the country, noting that about 10 persons were on the growing watchlist.

Commenting in a statement on Sunday, Shaibu said the Department of State Services (DSS) ought to invite Fani-Kayode as his rhetoric could set the country on fire.

Shaibu said Fani-Kayode’s claim that he would make Nigeria ungovernable if Tinubu is not inaugurated as president on May 29 is “infuriating and deserving of the attention of the DSS”.

“We acknowledge as timely, the statement of the DSS call on politicians not to overheat the polity but call on the security agency to arrest Fani-Kayode for not heeding the counsel of the DSS when he threatened to make Nigeria ungovernable,” Shuaibu said.

“The DSS rightly invited Fani-Kayode after he made false claims about Atiku planning a coup back in January and asked him to report daily. But for some reason, he has continued unhinged to spew hate.

“Recently, he even justified the attacks and the profiling of the Igbo in the recently concluded fraudulent governorship election in Lagos State. He has also threatened to make the country ungovernable if Tinubu is not sworn-in.

“I think it’s a good time to remind the DSS that Femi Fani-Kayode has returned to his old ways. Now, he is threatening fire and brimstone over a most contentious election, which Nigerians have refused to endorse or celebrate one full month after the collective disenfranchisement of the electorate.

“Fani-Kayode is threatening that he and some other desperados will make Nigeria ungovernable if Tinubu is not inaugurated on May 29, 2023. It is time to take in Fani-Kayode so he doesn’t inflame any further, the already combustible national angst.”

Shaibu alleged that the police have continued to give Fani-Kayode cover and have been used many times to intimidate people as stated by his staff.

“Yet, Fani-Kayode, who has not held any political office since 2007 when he was Aviation Minister, moves with a siren-blaring convoy,” he said.

“He should immediately be stripped of those security aides, uniformed or otherwise.

Shaibu called on Nigerians not to take Fani-Kayode seriously.