Coup Allegation: Femi Fani-Kayode Confirms DSS Invitation

Controversial politician and a director in the Media Directorate of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidential campaign, Femi Fani-Kayode, has confirmed that the Department of State Services has invited him to come and clarify all he knows about a coup allegation credited to him.

The Ile-Ife, Osun State-born spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign, confirmed the invitation on Monday, even as the Atiku Campaign commended the DSS for its prompt action.

In a series of Tweets on Monday, Fani-Kayode narrated how the DSS made the in vitation to him, saying: “3 days ago, on the day that I tweeted about newspaper reports alleging that Atiku was secretly meeting with Army Generals,I got a text message from someone who claimed to be DSS asking me to report to them on a matter of national security.1/

“..done nothing wrong or that I should not have said or done and I stand by everything that I have said or written in the past on all issues. It is not a crime to express my concerns about the despicable activities of Atiku who, in my view, has a hidden agenda and who is so..13/

“..desperate for power that he is prepared to do anything and turn the whole country upside down in order to achieve it. May God protect our people & nation from such a shameless & questionable character & such a disasterous plight & may He continue to be with us all.”

The controversial politician had, in a tweet, last weekend alleged that the presidential standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, held a “secret meeting” with “some soldiers” in Abuja, submitting that the alleged meeting may have a wider implication for the 2023 presidential elections and the country’s stability.

The DSS will specifically want Fani-Kayode to clear the air over allegations of a coup plot ahead of the February election.

In a statement, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communications, urged the DSS to carry out a scrupulous investigation into the serious allegation.

Shaibu said pointedly that Fani-Kayode must reveal the identity of the military personnel allegedly planning to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Fani-Kayode must also be made to reveal the identities of the so-called army generals who are plotting to overthrow the government of President Muhammadu Buhari,” Shaibu declared in the statement, adding:“Fani-Kayode and others in Tinubu’s camp have continued to prod the military by making allegations of coups and an interim government.” he said.

Shaibu is not done. He also asked the DSS ask Fani-Kayode to give details of his relationship with the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and other separatist organisations “terrorising the nation’s peace and unity.”

“The DSS must thus leave no stone unturned in this investigation. It is obvious that Fani-Kayode is the one plotting the collapse of the Fourth Republic,” Shaibu concluded.

Prior to the DSS’ invitation to Fani-Kayode, the military had, on Saturday, February 11, 2023, rubbished the allegation by the controversial politician.

In a statement, the Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig.Gen. Tukur Gusau, advised Nigerians to disregard Fani-Kayode’s tweets, stressing the Armed Forces remain resolutely loyal to the country’s democratic order, and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Brig. General Gusau regretted that even politicians who are the major beneficiary of the present democratic dispensation could align with agents of destabilization to spew such guile.