Fani-Kayode regrets coup allegation tweet that landed him in DSS detention

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Director of Special Projects and New Media for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Femi Fani-Kayode, yesterday admitted that he was not cautious enough to have tweeted an alleged coup plot, which landed him in the detention of the Department of States Services (DSS) in Abuja.

Briefing journàlists in the APC National Secretariat after being subjected to a five hours excruciating grilling according to him, Fani-Kayode, flanked on both sides by the men of DSS, sounded remorseful, regretting that he was overtaken by emotions, having seen the upcoming presidential election as war by other means.

Apparently compelled and escorted by the DSS operatives to address the press conference immediately from the DSS headquarters, Fani-Kayode said he was not intending to overheat the polity but to call the attention of the DSS to the report in the social media alleging that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was plotting with some military generals to scuttle the forthcoming general election.

He said the experience he had in the DSS custody was the one he would wish his enemy said: “I spent about five hours. I was subjected to thorough grilling; they were very thorough and highly professional in their interrogation.

“I was asked to go back on Wednesday for further interrogation. The place anybody wouldn’t want to go, I think is the DSS. If I were to do it a second time, I won’t tweet this same way.”

The APC campaign spokesperson while taunting some of his opponents who he refused to name said: “My inclination as a responsible, decent, civilised person, and a patriotic Nigerian is to respond by going, unlike others who were invited and who refused to go.

“We know who those people are. I believe if you have nothing to hide, you go. As long as you have confidence in the system, and I have absolute confidence in the system. I have absolute confidence in the fact that the DSS is impartial.”

Reacting to a statement by Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, calling on the DSS not to leave any stone unturned in the course of investigation, Kayode said it was “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing”, in the words of Shakespeare.

“I would suggest that they focus on the real issues, focus on their candidate or whatever they believe their candidate has to offer. They do not control the security of this country. They are not in charge and it’s not for them to dictate anything.

“If anybody should be investigated, arrested, prosecuted and jailed, it should be their presidential candidate. Why? Because he confessed in a tape, which we all heard about how he defrauded the whole country and stole public funds through SPVs. We’ve discussed this before.”

Also, speaking during the press conference, the Director Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga said, the council and the party was monitoring the situation to take appropriate action.

He said: “We were worried when we heard that FFK was invited by the DSS. So we contacted our lawyers and our lawyers followed him to the DSS headquarters.

“If he was detained beyond today, we would have challenged it. We would have taken further steps. But he said the DSS officials were very professional.”