The Nigerian Federal Government has accused Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, of inciting violence and treachery.
According to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Obi is encouraging people to violent action over the result of the presidential election.
However, he also said it was wrong for Obi to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and in another breath “incite people to violence”.
In challenging the election results, there was no pathway to victory for either Obi or the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
Mohammed noted that neither Obi nor Atiku met the constitutional requirements to be declared president.
The minister stated that the president-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won because he had met the stringent criteria for the presidency.
“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,”
“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,”
“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.
