Tobias Sylvester
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi has denied ordering the State Security Service (SSS) to detain Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai during the Anambra governorship election in 2013.
Peter Obi Replies El-Rufai
On Monday, El-Rufai accused Obi of ordering SSS operatives to detain him at a hotel where he had lodged in Awka, during the Anambra governorship election in November 2013.
The Kaduna governor, who was an official of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the time, had gone to Anambra to monitor the governorship election in the state.
Reacting to the allegation, Obi described El-Rufai’s comment as reckless, saying he was not behind the detention because he was also detained in his LGA during the election.
Obi said that it was impossible for him to give such an order to the federally controlled SSS officials as a governor under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
“When I came in now, somebody told me that my brother, the governor of Kaduna state, said that he came to my state and I detained him. Let me tell you, it is good when these things happen, you clarify them,” he said.
“I believe that as we grow older and are saddled with more responsibilities, we are expected to become circumspect in our thinking and avoid recklessness in our speeches and utterances.
“Number one, in my eight years of being governor, only in the first three months did I have a commissioner that is not from the north — commissioner of police. And that’s because I met the person.
“At the time the governor said this, it was during election. The police commissioner that was there then was from Adamawa — CP Gwari from Adamawa. The AIG that supervised that election was CP Nasarawa from the north. The DIG that came for that election was from Kano.
“Tell me my power, that I was in APGA — government was PDP and APC. Tell me how APGA person will issue order for somebody to be detained. Even me was detained in my local government.
“However, the only offence I committed is that when they asked me, I said ‘that’s how they treat everybody; that I wouldn’t be in Kaduna on the day of election’. That was the only thing.
“There is no way. I cannot do that. As governor of Anambra state, I had the best ADC in Nigeria — the best policeman. My ADC, Mohammed, is from Kano. He’s the best policeman that I have ever met. Who will I give the order? How will I tell who lives in my house every day; I’m close to his family; I get up and say ‘Mohammed, I want to deal with your people’, and he will stay there.
“Call my ADC today. I will give you his phone number. He’s the best policeman. He’s a CSP now. So, when people say Peter Obi is black. 2019, I was [vice-presidential candidate], I was a good man. Now that I want to be president, I’ve become a bad man. I did not do anything wrong. I want to change Nigeria.”
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