The Presidency on Tuesday accused some “disgruntled religious and past political leaders” of championing regime change in the country.
Presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, made the charge in a statement.
This is coming less than 24 hours after the military assured that it was loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari and had no intention to topple the government.
The military’s statement signed by Defence spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, was in reaction to a statement by Robert Clark, SAN, who suggested that current political leadership should hand over power to the military for the purpose of restructuring.
The Presidency said the intention of such leaders is to eventually throw the country into a tailspin, which would compel a forceful and undemocratic change of leadership.
“Further unimpeachable evidence shows that these disruptive elements are now recruiting the leadership of some ethnic groups and politicians round the country, with the intention of convening some sort of conference, where a vote of no confidence would be passed on the President, thus throwing the land into further turmoil,” the statement said.
“The caterwauling, in recent times, by these elements, is to prepare the grounds adequately for their ignoble intentions, which are designed to cause further grief for the country.
“The agent provocateurs hope to achieve through artifice and sleight of hands, what they failed to do through the ballot box in the 2019 elections.
“Nigerians have opted for democratic rule, and the only accepted way to change a democratically elected government is through elections, which hold at prescribed times in the country. Any other way is patently illegal, and even treasonable. Of course, such would attract the necessary consequences.
“These discredited individuals and groups are also in cahoots with external forces to cause maximum damage in their own country. But the Presidency, already vested with mandate and authority by Nigerians till 2023, pledges to keep the country together, even if some unruly feathers would be ruffled in the process.”
