Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, says the call for his arrest and prosecution for admonishing Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, over inciting the public to violence is unwarranted.
The minister stated this on Wednesday in London while reacting to the call by Elder Statesman and Leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark, that he should be arrested and prosecuted for spreading “fake news” about Obi.
Information Nigeria reports that the leader of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, disclosed on Tuesday that Mohammed’s recent visit to the United States where he accused Obi of treason “is an effort in futility.”
In a statement titled, “Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information should be prosecuted for spreading fake news against the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi,” Clark wondered why Mohammed “took more than usual interest in not only lying against Obi,” adding that Obi’s “rising profile” cannot be damaged by the Nigerian government.
But, Mohammed said he stood by his admonition of Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, insisting that his advice was never premised on falsehood.
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“What will be my offence? Is it by chiding Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party who said on live television that if the President-elect Bola Tinubu is sworn-in on May 29 that that would be the end of democracy in Nigeria?
“Is it for chiding him for saying that swearing-in Tinubu in May 29 is like swearing-in the military?
“What is the fake news in that?” the minister queried.
According to him, Baba-Ahmed never denied his statement made on the live television.
Mohammed also said that Obi had also not publicly called his running mate to order over the treasonable utterances.
“The position of the law is clear that anybody who is aggrieved over election results should go to court.
“It is not to start threatening Nigerians and heating up the polity simply because you lost an election,” the Minister said.
He furthered that the All Progressives Congress won the presidential election “fair and square” and the Independent National Electoral Commission was right in declaring Bola Ahmed Tinubu the winner.
The minister however reassured Nigerians and the international community that the president- elect would be sworn-in on May 29.
