Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has chastised the Federal Government over the treason charge leveled against Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi.
WITHIN NIGERIA reported that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had warned Peter Obi against inciting Nigerians to violence over the outcome of the presidential election.
In an interview with some foreign media outlets in Washington, DC on Tuesday, Mohammed stated that it is wrong for Obi to seek redress in court over the outcome of the presidential election while also inciting people to violence.
The minister called Obi’s running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed’s statement that President-elect Bola Tinubu should not be sworn in as president treasonous.
Agabakoba told The Punch on Tuesday evening that the minister was incorrect in accusing Obi of treason, and that the allegations leveled against the LP flagbearer were false.
Agbakoba argued that Obi and Baba-Ahmed had the right to express their views on the presidential election outcome because they were simply saying what they thought.
Treason has to be accompanied by some very violent act. I don’t see how people can just make a statement about what they think should be done with Peter Obi, committing treason, it’s not treason at all. Treason is defined in a criminal code with a specific element and just to make a speech is not treason, he said.