Key highlights
- Mohammed accused Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed of committing treason by threatening that democracy will come to an end if Bola Tinubu is sworn in on May 29, 2023.
- The minister was in Washington to engage with international media organisations and Think-tanks on the just concluded 2023 polls.
- He accused Obi of being desperate and is not a democrat.
The Federal Government has warned the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, against inciting people to violence over the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
The government said it is treason for Oni and Baba-Ahmed to threaten that democracy will come to an end if the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, is sworn in on May 29, 2023.
The caution was given the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while in Washington DC during his official engagements with some international media organisations.
The minister, who is in Washington to engage with international media organisations and Think-tanks on the just concluded 2023 polls, has so far engaged respectively with the “Washington Post”, Voice of America, Associated Press and Foreign Policy Magazine.
Accuse Obi of not being a democrat
Mohammed during the interactions with the media organisations said it was wrong for Obi in one breadth to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and in another breadth inciting people to violence.
- He said, “Obi and his Vice, Datti Ahmed cannot be threatening Nigerians that if the President-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is sworn in on May 29, it will be the end of democracy in Nigeria.
- “This is treason. You cannot be inviting insurrection, and this is what they are doing.
- “Obi’s statement is that of a desperate person, he is not the democrat that he claimed to be.
- “A democrat should not believe in democracy only when he wins the election.’’
Obi and Atiku failed to meet constitutional requirements
The minister said in challenging the election results, there was no pathway to victory for either Obi or Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He maintained that both Obi and Atiku failed to meet the constitutional requirements to be declared as president.
- He said, “The constitution has stringent criteria for anybody who wants to be president of the country.
- “Not only must he has the plurality of vote cast in an election, he must also have scored one-quarter of votes cast in at least 25 states.
- “Only the President-elect met the criteria by scoring 8.79 million votes and having one-quarter of all the vote cast in 29 states of the federation.’’
The minister said Atiku who came second with 6.9 million votes was only able to make one-quarter of the votes cast in 21 states, while Obi came third with 5.8 million votes but won only one-quarter of the votes cast in 15 states.
- He said, “You cannot win an election in a poll where you came a distant third position and failed to meet constitutional requirements.
- “Peter Obi, while complaining of fraud has not disowned his victory in Lagos.’’
