.jpg)
•Jonathan, Buhari must ensure peace —US insists
The presidency has ordered a discreet investigation into a reported plot by some high-profile Nigerians to foist an interim government on Nigeria in the event of a deadlocked presidential election next month.
An informed government source confirmed that already, a preliminary report revealed the plot being real with a former president and an unnamed Western country identified as arrowheads of the plan.
The source disclosed that security forces were working on the hint that a possible think-tank existed in the country set up by those promoting the agenda which, it said, “is already fashioning out political strategies and designing a blueprint for the planned interim government.”
The plot, it was gathered, was predicated on fears “that there would be no legitimate government in the country after May 29, 2015.”
The security source said the secret plot is “enjoying the tacit support of a section of the international community, especially a super power with whom Nigeria currently has strained relations.”
The source disclosed that security agents “are aware that the think-tank had so far held two meetings – the inaugural meeting in Lagos and the second in another South West state capital, and it boasts of 12 members drawn from among die-hard loyalists of the former president, many of who are professionals with international connections.’’
An insider told Saturday Tribune that the plot was informed by a security report by some foreign interest groups that the 2015 general elections might be inconclusive, hence the need for an “Option B”.
The source claimed that with a possible Buhari inroad to parts of the South and a Jonathan strong showing in the North Central, a clear winner may not emerge at first ballot on February 14.
“The foreign country’s involvement in the plot is purely economic,” the source said.
The source noted that the foreign country “recruited the likes of the former president and others to work to an answer. A former Nigerian ambassador to that foreign country is said to be the pointsman.”
While decrying the plot, especially the role of the former president in it, the source stressed that “we shall see how far he, his team and the foreign collaborators can go.”
Meanwhile, the United States on Friday insisted that all candidates in the coming presidential elections must express comprehensive commitments to non-violence during and after the presidential elections.
US ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, who gave the charge in Lagos on Friday during a Channels Television interview programme, declared that the candidates must go beyond stating that they would not personally instigate violence, adding that a broad commitment by the candidates to non-violence by themselves and their supporters was imperative as the nation prepares for the February 14 election.
He explained that violence had no place in a democracy, declaring that his interaction with candidates, across all political parties, informed his call for them to be made to give undertakings for peace on behalf of their supporters.
President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari are the major contenders in the presidential contest coming up on February 14.
The US ambassador also disclosed that Washington had no candidate in the election, explaining that his country was only interested in the process and not in who wins the election.
He also used the occasion to explain why the training programme his country organised for members of the Nigerian Armed Forces was aborted midway, blaming it on non-provision of equipment for the training by Nigerian authorities.
According to him, the agreement was that the United States would provide the trainers while Nigeria would be responsible for the equipment that would be used for the training. The trainers were in Nigeria, he said, but the equipment were not available and his country could not keep the trainers in Nigeria forever.
Source: Tribune
