2023 election: FG talks tough, accuses Obi, Datti Ahmed of treason

OBIORA  IFOH, Abuja

 

The Federal Government has accused the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Ahmed, of allegedly, inciting people to violence over the outcome of the presidential elections.

 

The Federal Government also admonished the duo not to incite people to violence over the outcome of the 2023 election.

 

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the allegation in Washington DC during his official engagements with some international media organisations.

 

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister is in Washington to engage with international media organisations and Think-tanks on the just concluded 2023 polls.

 

NAN also reports that the minister had so far engaged respectively with the Washington Post, Voice of America, Associated Press and Foreign Policy Magazine.

 

During the respective interactions with the media organisations, the minister said it was wrong for Obi on one breadth to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and on another breadth incite people to violence.

 

“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,” he said.

 

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).

 

According to the minister, neither Obi nor Atiku met the constitutional requirements to be declared as president.

“The constitution has stringent criteria for anybody who wants to be president of the country.

 

“Not only must he have the plurality of votes cast in an election, but 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 votes cast in 29 states of the federation,” he said.

 

The minister said Atiku, who came second with 6.9 million votes, could only make one-quarter of the votes cast in 21 states.

 

He said Obi came third with 5.8 million votes but won only one-quarter of the vote the s cast in 15 states.

 

“You cannot win an election in a poll where you came to a distant third position and failed to meet constitutional requirements.

 

“Peter Obi, while complaining of fraud has not disowned his victory in Lagos,” he said.

 

Elaborating on his mission to the U.S., the minister said he was there to correct the negative narratives being promoted by naysayers and opposition on the 2023 election.

 

He said the opposition, having lost in the election was alleging fraud, calling for its cancellation and constitution of the interim government.

 

“We have come here to balance that skewed narrative and to tell the world unambiguously that the just concluded general elections in Nigeria are the fairest, most transparent and authentic in the history of Nigeria.

 

“The election is the fairest and most credible because of the introduction of the Bimodal Voters Verification System (BVAS) which I regard as a game changer.

 

“BVAS technology had helped to weed out ghost and illegal voters, eliminate multiple voting and return sanity to the elections.”

 

Relying on the INEC report, the minister said BVAS, during the polls, worked 97 per cent giving unparalleled credibility to the elections.

In a swift reaction, The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi said the various campaigns of calumny directed at him by some government and political party spokespersons and warned that they should stop their de-marketing process that is presenting Nigeria in a very bad light.

 

Obi said he was saddened, on reading the press statement by the Nigerian Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.  The Minister had, in a press statement, accused Mr. Peter Obi and his Deputy, Sen. Baba Datti-Ahmed, of treason, by their inciting the citizens to revolt against the announcement of Sen. Ahmed Bola Tinubu as the President-elect.

 

In a release made available to the press, Obi said that he was not perturbed by the Minister bandying around the word ‘treason’ because, as far as he (Obi) was concerned, he had taken the legal route toward the recovery of his mandate and that he remained committed to that. “Any person ‘seeing’ treason in a clear legal process should explain to Nigerians how opting for the tribunal by myself and my Deputy amounts to treason,” Obi said.

 

Part of the release reads: “In the past few days, I’ve observed various campaigns of calumny directed at my person, the latest being allegations attributed to the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, in Washington DC. It is most unfortunate that these consistent efforts to portray me in a manner contrary to what I am and my core values are coming from such high quarters. Minister Lai accusing me of stoking the fire of insurrection is fictitious and malicious

 

“I have never discussed or encouraged anyone to undermine the Nigerian state; I’ve never sponsored or preached any action against the Nigerian state. Those initiating these actions have increasingly used their official positions and agents to make false allegations against me. I’m on record as always advocating peace and issue-based campaign and not campaigning based on ethnicity or religion.

Regretting what he described as “recklessness” by some Nigerians, Obi said it was utterly perplexing that a Minister would be busy traveling around the world, telling Nigerians that the purpose was to tell the world the true story of the Nigerian election.” Obi said it was laughable, against the background of the fact that most of those countries sent their people to monitor the election and have all received reports from the monitors, as well as from their embassies. “Obi asked: “Between Lai Mohammed and their monitors/embassies, who would these countries believe?”

 

He further said that such reckless behaviour, sponsored with taxpayers’ money, was among the reasons those countries often do not take Nigeria seriously. “The billions spent on those meaningless trips would be enough to fix several dilapidated schools in the country,“ Obi said.

 

While urging Nigerians to always remain law-abiding and hopeful for the coming of the New Nigeria, Obi reinstated his steadfast inclination:  “I’m on record, as always, advocating peace and issue-based campaign, NOT a campaign based on ethnicity or religion.  I’m committed to Due Process and presently seeking redress in Court. I urge those engaged in this demarketing process to stop presenting Nigeria in a such bad light.  Our future generations deserve a new Nigeria where they can live a secure and decent life, like their counterparts in other climes. And this is possible.”

 

Also, Labour Party, on Tuesday rebuked the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammed, over anti-Peter Obi comments in which he accused the LP presidential candidate in the 2023 elections “of inciting people to violence”.

 

Julius Abure, national chairman of the Labour Party, also lambasted the Minister for embarking on what he described as “a familiarisation tour of misinforming the international community of the true political situation in Nigeria”.

 

In a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, in response to Lai Mohammed’s comments during the latter’s official engagements with some international media organisations in Washington DC, Abure said that the Minister’s comment was done in bad fate.

 

Mohammed had during interactions with some media organisations in the US said it was wrong for Obi on one breadth to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and on another breadth inciting people to violence.

 

But the LP national chairman in a swift reaction warned the Minister to desist from such utterances.

 

He said, “It is our considered opinion that it is even the APC through their spokespersons and all others who have been engaged in provocative utterances to cause chaos that should be admonished. The admonition is largely for APC themselves, their spokespersons and their officials”.

 

The statement reads in part, “The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who was on a familiarisation tour of misinforming the international community of the true political situation in Nigeria yesterday during his official engagements with some international media organisations in Washington DC admonished Mr. Obi for weeping up sentiments across Nigeria.

 

“The Minister who engaged respectively with the “Washington Post”, Voice of America, Associated Press and Foreign Policy Magazine said it was wrong for Obi on one breadth to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and on another breadth inciting people to violence.

 

Let me state categorically that there are no bases for that admonition. Our presidential candidate is a peaceful and law-abiding person”.

 

Abure insisted that even though “the election was provocatively rigged”, Obi chose to be peaceful and to the part of justice “in spite of all pressures from our supporters to move into the street to protest the outcome of the general election and to reclaim the mandate freely given to our candidate by the people, he has decided to calm the nerves to give the judicial process a chance”.

 

He stated further “that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party is the only candidate whose campaign was issues based.

 

“In spite of all provocation, it was the Labour party and its candidate that was attacked in Lagos, in Port Harcourt and all other states in the federation. But we have continued to promote peace”.

 

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