Lai: My only sin was talking too much before election

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, showed his soft side at a town hall meeting in Abuja on Thursday when he said his “only sin” was speaking too much before the 2015 general election.

The hall erupted in laughter as the minister went on to speak on the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

“Long before the first year anniversary we had embarked on our own town hall meeting to give the citizens feedbacks on our achievements,” he said.

“The first one was held in Lagos. Any meaningful assessment must be situated within the right context.

“We campaigned on three broad areas, corruption, revamp the economy and security. Have we met our targets? If you ask me, I will say we are on track.

“When we came in, many local governments in the north-east were under the control of Boko Haram. They hoisted their flags, they were even collecting taxes, but today not even a single local government is under the control of Boko Haram.

“We have been able to liberate 16,000 captors from the enclave of Boko Haram.”

During the electioneering campaign, Mohammed was the spokesman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), which was then the opposition party, and he was very active.

He served in that capacity until his appointment in November.

The party has not been able to appoint someone to replace him.

Commenting on that, John Oyegun, chairman of the APC, said: “It is difficult to get someone who can match the outstanding performance of Lai Mohammed.”