Lai: Obi has failed to correct Datti over ‘no president-elect’ remark

Lai Mohammed, minister of information, has accused Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), of failing to correct Datti Baba-Ahmed, his running mate, over his controversial comments.

On March 22, Datti said Nigeria has no president-elect despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcing Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.

The LP vice-presidential candidate said Tinubu would be leading an unconstitutional government if sworn into office, adding that the APC candidate “has not met requirements of the law”.

Speaking with state house correspondents on Wednesday, Lai said nobody has the right to call for insurrection in the country.

“I said Obi has every right to seek redress in court like Labour Party but nobody has the right to call for insurrection or to threaten to say that if the president-elect is sworn-in, that would be the end of democracy,” Lai said.

“And that was precisely what Obi’s running mate said on live television and I have not heard Obi rein him in or correct him; so, if your running mate says something; of course, he was saying on behalf of the party and on behalf of the candidate.

“That is why I said that was treason; for anybody to say that if a duly elected president in Nigeria is sworn in, that will be the end of democracy is treason. For anybody to say if you swear in a duly elected president, you are swearing the military, it is treason.

“So, I don’t see anything controversy in that.”

‘2023 POLLS WERE THE MOST TRANSPARENT ‘

He said President Muhammadu Buhari did not confer any advantage on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) during the presidential election.

The minister said he clarified the issue during a recent official trip to the US, noting that he told his audience that Buhari prevented the use of security agencies to rig elections.

He added that the last election was largely the least violent in the history of Nigeria.

“I went to the US to balance the skewed report about the just concluded elections; and everywhere I went, I said very unambiguously that the last general elections in Nigeria are the most transparent,” he said.

“It was the freest and the most authentic Nigeria had ever held, and that is despite the effort of the opposition to delegitimise the election.

“And I put forward my position there that the two reasons the election was the best was one.

“That the introduction of technology especially, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System(BVAS), made it pretty difficult for anybody to do the usual things before like over-voting, stuffing of ballot boxes and the likes because once it takes your biometrics; you cannot vote twice.’’

“The first instance was that the president did not confer any advantage on his ruling party; and that as far as he was concerned, he would rather lose the election than win at all cost; and the result showed it.”