TheCable

Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, says the US is aware that Peter Obi, standard bearer of the Labour Party (LP), lost the presidential election.

Keyamo spoke in response to Obi’s comments about the telephone conversation between Antony Blinken, US secretary of state and Bola Tinubu, the president-elect.

The former governor of Anambra said the basis on which Blinken called Tinubu to pledge to strengthen the ties between Nigeria and the US was “unclear”.

Obi asked Blinken not to legitimise the victory of Tinubu until the presidential election petition tribunal gives a verdict.

In a tweet on Friday, the minister said Obi overrated his “tantrums” and that of his supporters as having any effect internationally.

Your Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, I am sorry, but there is clarity as to the basis of the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken’s call to @officialABAT and their pledge for support and cooperation. It’s obvious that you and your supporters have overrated your noise and… https://t.co/sK9MFwfKYd

— Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) May 19, 2023

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“It’s obvious that you and your supporters have overrated your noise and tantrums after the election as having any real effect internationally. No, they have not had any such massive effect as you would wish,” he said.

“Unfortunately for you, the US has dealt with so many opposition figures around the world and they know exactly how to separate facts from fiction. They know you lost, fair and square. They know that in a complex society like Nigeria, you could not have won with your message of ‘religious war’.

“They know you’re just a splinter of the main opposition, the PDP, so it amounts to delusions of grandeur to think that you won when you actually came third.

“They also know the declaration of a winner already announced by INEC has the force of law and is the only acceptable legal framework upon which to proceed than your Petition in court that is yet to be decided upon. You really want this country to stand still because you have a case in court? Is that what we have practised in this country for decades?

The minister added that Obi’s “pontifications” about the presidential election were worrisome.