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The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party was accused of committing treason because he failed to correct a statement attributed to his running mate, Datti Baba Ahmed.
Mohammed said nobody has the right to call for insurrection or threaten the presidency because he or she loses an election.
The minister while answering questions from journalists on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, insisted that Datti’s remark on national television amounted to treason.
What did Datti say?
On Wednesday, March 22, 2023, the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party maintained that the president-elect, Bola Tinubu did not deserve to be sworn in as Nigeria’s president because he wasn’t duly elected.
Datti, who spoke on Channels Television Programme, ‘Politics Today,’ asked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief Justice of the Federation to not take part in an 'unconstitutional act' by swearing in the president-elect on May 29, 2023.
Datti insisted that Tinubu didn’t meet all the constitutional requirements for him to be declared the President-elect.
He said, “Swearing in Tinubu and Shettima is as good as swearing in the Nigerian Army on the 29th of May. If you swear in people that have not satisfied the constitutional requirements, you have by so doing ended democracy.”
FG’s reaction and allegation against Peter Obi
Days after Datti’s comment on the February 25 presidential election, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed accused Peter Obi of inciting people to violence over the outcome of the elections.
The minister during his official engagements with some international media organisations in Washington DC, in the United States, said it was wrong for Obi to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and at the same time 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 a democrat that he claimed to be. A democrat should not believe in democracy only when he wins election,” he said.
Lai Mohammed justifies allegation against Peter Obi
Although the call for Tinubu not to be sworn-in was made by Datti, Mohammed explained that Obi was accused of treason because he did not rein in on his running mate when he made the comment.
He argued that Datti’s controversial comment about the election and Tinubu's inauguration was made on behalf of the Labour Party and its presidential candidate.
He said, “What I said about Mr Peter Obi is very clear. I said Mr Peter Obi has every right to seek redress in court like Labour Party. But nobody has the right to call for insurrection or to threaten to say that if the President-elect is sworn in, that will be the end of democracy.
“That was precisely what the running mate of Mr Peter Obi said on live television. And I have not heard Peter Obi rein him in or correct him.
“So, if your running mate said something, of course, he is saying it on behalf of the party and that of the candidate.
“That’s why it’s an act of treason for anybody to say if a duly elected president in Nigeria is sworn in, that will be the end of democracy.
“It’s treason for anybody to say if you swear in a duly elected president, you’re swearing in the military. It is crazy. So, I don’t see anything controversial in that.”
Although, Obi and the Labour Party have gone to court to challenge Tinubu’s victory, the president-elect is expected to be sworn-in on Monday, May 29, 2023.