Former Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, revealed that he encountered significant challenges as a government spokesperson when trying to counter the narrative that the 2023 presidential election was rigged.
Mohammed, who served under President Muhammadu Buhari, during whose administration the 2023 general election took place, made this disclosure at the Spokespersons’ Summit in Abuja, organized by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and National Orientation.
The former minister explained that his team attempted to engage international media outlets, including Voice of America, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy Magazine, Associated Press, BBC, and others.
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However, he noted that these foreign media organizations were not familiar with the provisions of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) regarding presidential elections.
He said, “Allegations of rigging had surfaced, largely centred around the delay in uploading results to the IReVportal – which, notably, plays no role in the official collation of election results.
“I led my team to the United Kingdom and the United States to engage directly with key international media organisations and influential think tanks. Our goal was to present them with irrefutable facts on how the election was won and lost.
“We met with journalists and representatives from Voice of America, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy Magazine, Associated Press, BBC, The Economist, Reuters, Bloomberg, Politico, Hudson Institute, U.S. Institute of Peace, Atlantic Council, and Chatham House, among others,” he said.
The former minister said, “To our surprise, many of these organisations were unfamiliar with Nigeria’s constitutional requirements for winning a presidential election.
“We explained that, under Chapter 6, Section 134 of the Constitution, a candidate must not only win the majority of votes but also secure at least 25% of the votes in no fewer than two-thirds of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Based on this, we made it clear that neither the PDP nor LP candidates had a viable path to victory. We presented the breakdown: the LP candidate placed a distant third, trailing the APC candidate by approximately 2.7 million votes.
“The APC candidate not only won the highest number of votes but also secured 25% of the vote in 29 states – well above the constitutional threshold. The PDP candidate came second and met the 25% threshold in only 21 states, while the LP candidate achieved it in just 15 states. Both fell short of the constitutional criteria for victory.
“To further dispel the allegations of rigging, we laid out compelling evidence: the APC lost in key states with high numbers of registered voters – Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, and Katsina – even though all had APC governors.”
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