Former spokesperson to late President Musa Yar’Adua, Olusegun Adeniyi, has revealed that there was a plan to kidnap former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Attahiru Jega, during the collation of the 2019 Presidential election results.
Adeniyi, who is the Chairman of ThisDay Editorial Board, made the disclosure in his recently launched book, ‘Against the Run of Play.’
The former Presidential spokesperson wrote: “There were many around Jonathan who did not share his sense of magnanimity. Tuesday, March 31, 2015, was, therefore, a dramatic day, with the abortive attempt by the Niger Delta Minister and ally of the president, Elder Godsday Orubebe, to disrupt proceedings at the INEC collation center, a spectacle that unfolded on live television.
“Although he would later apologize for his misadventure, Orubebe’s histrionics were part of a grand plan to disrupt the election, a plot that failed essentially because other parties involved refused to play to the script
.“While Jega did not have the exact details of what would happen, he had nonetheless been alerted to the fact that there would be a disruption in the process, including a kidnap threat. “
Quoting a security personnel assigned to Jega during the election, Adeniyi narrated,
“On arrival at the collation center that morning, we discovered that the gate between the International Conference Centre and NICON Luxury Hotel, which was always locked, had curiously been opened.”