Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has slammed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for his comments on the phone call between President-elect Bola Tinubu and US Secretary of State Antony Bliken.
WITHIN NIGERIA reported that Bliken phoned Tinubu on Tuesday after announcing the imposition of visa restrictions on specific individuals who undermined the democratic process during the 2023 elections.
Blinken told Tinubu that the Joe Biden administration is committed to strengthening ties with Nigeria, according to a statement released by the US Department of State’s Spokesperson, Matthew Miller.
In a statement issued on Wednesday via his Twitter handle, Atiku said Blinken’s call to Tinubu contradicts the US public position on Nigeria’s election.
However, in a statement posted on Twitter on Wednesday, Keyamo stated that the call is not contradictory because the US and Blinken are aware that Atiku and Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, are behaving like former US President Donald Trump by refusing to accept their obvious defeat.
Keyamo claims that the US is also aware of the unacceptable incidents that occurred during the election, emphasizing that Peter Obi received far fewer votes in Anambra State than was declared and daring LP to publish the result on IREV.
According to him, the US also knows that Peter Obi and Atiku would not have won the election because their votes were split among three different parties, and Tinubu won the election fairly and squarely.
He wrote;
No, your Excellency, @atiku , it is not a contradiction. The United States and@SecBlinkenknow you and Peter Obi are behaving like Donald Trump in America: refusing to accept your obvious defeat and relying on propaganda to deceive the world. They have your type in the US, so they understand the issues correctly.
They know both of you could NOT have won when, as opposition parties, you split your votes into 3 parts, with even a revolt of 5 of your Governors within your depleted party. Yes, they know you lost and @officialABAT won, fair and square.
And for those who perpetrated these irregularities during the elections, the US has applied the appropriate sanctions (and we welcome those sanctions which deepen our democracy), but that is that. IT IS NOT A CONDEMNATION OF THE ENTIRE ELECTION AS YOU HAVE WRONGLY ASSUMED.
The world has actually moved on, but you and Peter Obi are still standing on one spot. As usual, you and Peter Obi are depending on your usual bullying tactics to overwhelm the US and @SecBlinken and cow them to toe your warped line of reasoning that has NO EVIDENTIAL basis