Lai Mohammed Lobbies Foreign Press For Tinubu, Accuses Obi Of ‘Inviting Insurrection’

Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Information Minister, has moved to lobby foreign press organizations to tone down the negative coverage the president-elect, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, is getting from them.

The minister met with representatives from several foreign media outlets in Washington DC, the United States, in an attempt to persuade them to change what he called the “skewed narrative” about the circumstances that led to Tinubu’s emergence as president-elect.

Mohammed argued that the negative press coverage on Tinubu was unfair and biased and that it was damaging the country’s reputation on the international stage.

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

“The election is the most fair and credible because of the introduction of Bimodal Voters Verification System (BVAS) which I regard as a game changer,” the minister claimed during the press briefing with Washington Post, Voice of America, Associated Press and Foreign Policy Magazine.

Mohammed’s move came against the backdrop of alleged refusal by leaders of some foreign nations to congratulate Tinubu for his victory in the February 25 presidential election.

Both local and foreign election observers had reported that the presidential election was marred by widespread violence and vote buying.

Bruce DelValle, general counsel of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), had during a recent press conference of the US-based Nigerian advocacy group claimed that the presidential election was marred by fraud.

“We believe that INEC has to prove itself. It has to prove that the results it announced were true and were real,” DelValle said.

But Mohammed, during his press briefing, insisted that the election was fair and accused the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, of inciting the citizens to violence over his loss at the polls.

The minister said Obi cannot be seeking redress in court over the outcome of the polls and allegedly inciting people to violence at the same time.

“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 a democrat that he claimed to be.

“A democrat should not believe in democracy only when he wins election,” he said.

Speaking further, Mohammed said both Obi and Atiku failed to meet the constitutional requirements to be declared as president.

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

“Not only must he have 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,” he said.

Taking a further dig at Obi, Mohammed said: “You cannot win 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.”