Keyamo said the US Ambassador’s comment
and that of other diplomats about the election
might affect the perception of Nigerians. The spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council, Festus Keyamo has accused the United States’ Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador W. Stuart Symington of tactically supporting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
According to Daily Post, Keyamo said Symington’s comment and that of other
diplomats about the election might affect the
perception of Nigerians. Citing reports in the media quoting the US
Ambassador, the campaign council spokesman
said “We take the view that the constant
statements by Ambassador Symington and the
other diplomats are implicit attacks against the
government of Nigeria.”
The statement reads: “It would appear that
these envoys seem to have discredited the
election before it has even taken place. We truly
hope some of the statements attributed to these
diplomats are inaccurate. For instance, the
Premium News reported that Ambassador W. Stuart Symington threatened to “hold to
account” anyone whose speech, no matter the
motivation of that speech, engendered hatred. “We all agree that any speech willfully intended
to trigger violence is condemnable. However, in
condemning other forms of political speech, the
American envoy overstepped his
ambassadorial brief. For instance, the American
Ambassador was reported to have condemned a situation where a candidate says that his
opponent’s political and economic policies are
abhorrent and dangerous to the greater
welfare of the people and calls on the citizens to
hate and reject such policies. “In our view, this is a correct statement
because it is the duty of the candidate to tell the
people these truths to protect the nation from
subsequent calamity. But Ambassador
Symington says his country would punish such
necessary political speeches.
“For us it is significant to note that such strong
political speeches are not unlawful in the United
States, but Ambassador Symington is seeking to
penalize such speeches by Nigerians. He seeks
to shrink our ambit of free speech so that we
may behave in accordance with their vision of well-behaved Africans, rather than in
consonance with our vision of our own
democracy, no matter how tumultuous and
dramatic we may be. It would appear that his
position seeks to prohibit forms of expression
integral to our political discourse. These forms of expression have time and time again been
adjudged to be constitutionally-protected
speeches by the United States Supreme Court. “However, Ambassador Symington
intentionally issued his threats to place a chilling
effect on speeches in Nigeria that, if uttered in
America, would be constitutionally protected.
Unfounded allegations and threats to penalize
people for constitutionally-protected free speech is improper interference in our internal
affairs. Sadly, what Ambassador Symington and
some other western diplomats are doing
border on the improper.
“We take the view that the constant statements
by Ambassador Symington and the other
diplomats are implicit attacks against the
government of Nigeria. These statements imply
the Nigerian government is inclined to rig the
election in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari. This is unfair and unacceptable to us.
President Muhammadu Buhari has never been
accused of electoral malpractice all his life.
However, in contrast, former Vice President,
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar publicly boasted a few
months ago that he rigged the 2003 election in the Southwest States. Here, we have an open
confession of blatant electoral malfeasance by
the PDP candidate. But in all of these, there seem
to be no concern by Ambassador Symington
and other diplomats about this well-
acknowledged proclivity of the main opposition.
“It is not too late for Ambassador Symington to
repair the damage of his uninformed
statements. He needs to speak as an impartial
envoy instead of a person who appears to
have prejudged the quality of the process and
the outcome. Until he attains that level of informed impartiality, whatever good he seeks
is better achieved by his silence than by
tendentious utterances.”

Awol1:
The wanna Send international observers back in body bags.

They are fighting US.

They are fighting EU.

They are fighting UN.

They are fighting Nigerians.

APC against the world.

Who will now be their ally if the win? ( God forbid).

The World can't be wrong, and APC right.

That's madness.