The United Kingdom has said no fewer than 10 individuals are on its watchlist following the outcome of the 2023 general elections.
Ben Llewellyn-Jones, British deputy high commissioner to Nigeria disclosed this while reacting to controversial comments made by Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of aviation and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Fani-Kayode, in a series of tweets, was said to have used words and phrases deemed derogatory, divisive and inciting against the opposition.
“The single greatest lesson that the 2023 presidential election has taught us is that God will NEVER allow a practising sodomite and his repugnant retinue of perverts, pimps, fraudsters, court jesters, degenerates, monkeys, slaves and malefactors to lead Nigeria,” the former minister had tweeted.
In another tweet, the APC chieftain said; “What @PeterObi, @atiku & their thugs did to the CJN is despicable.They lied on him, defamed him, rubbished his reputation & sought to humiliate, blackmail, undermine, destroy & disgrace him out of office. These savages & barbarians seek to destroy all our revered institutions.”
“A WORD TO THE DOGS OF OPPOSITION
“As a consequence of the events of the last few days I am constrained to say that, like a rabid and mad dog that is foaming at the mouth, the Nigerian opposition, represented by the followers of Atiku Abubakar (Atikulators) and the followers of…,” he posited in a separate tweet.
Reacting, the UK envoy said he was puzzled as to why Fani-Kayode would make such statements, adding that the APC should have distanced itself from the former minister’s utterances.
“Yes, let’s be specific, there were some people, like Femi Fani-Kayode, what is he saying and why is he saying it? I don’t understand,” Llewellyn-Jones told Nigeria Info FM on Sunday.
“It is wrong from my perspective that he will speak on behalf of a party and that party does not distance itself from him and say stop doing that. It is wrong to say that.
“To me, it is really important, people who have said I am part of a party’s press and media campaign, well, the party itself should say no you are not, and you should stop and we do not agree. I know that some leaders very clearly said we are about unity, and that is good, I encourage that.
“The problem is if you get the other people over here, who are very clearly associated with the party and giving you another message, and there isn’t any kind of calling out of that. What would you take from that as a voter?”
He added; “We watched very closely. We have a list, we are working through our list but we don’t publish those names. I know people say we should, but we have laws, and the law prevents us from doing that.
“We said we will do this and we will do this. And we are gathering the kind of information that will enable us do this, on specific individuals. At the moment the list is between 5 and 10 and it is growing.”
It be recalled Fani-Kayode, last month, said the Department of State Services (DSS) invited him for making claims that Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), met with army general prior to the elections.
