Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s minister for information and culture, during the week addressed international media organisations in Washington DC.
The minister who spoke to the international community on the state of the nation after the 2023 election made some claims against Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate.
Claim I: Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed are inciting people to violence
The minister speaking on Obi noted that the LP candidate was inciting Nigerians to violence over his loss at the presidential poll of February 25, 2023.
He said, “Obi and his Vice, Datti Baba-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 inciting 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,” he said.
Verification:
In verifying this claim, the CDD Election War Room ran multiple searches and listened to numerous interviews involving Obi and his vice, Datti Baba-Ahmed.
We found a post-election interview of Baba-Ahmed on Channels TV Politics Today, where the LP vice presidential candidate said swearing in Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president-elect was ending democracy a reference made by Lai Mohammed.
To grasp the full context, excerpts from his interview reads, “I’m working with the constitution there. That document you just read and I’m following it and I dare to tell you that swearing in Tinubu and Shettima is as good as swearing in the Nigerian army on 29th May.
“If you swear in people that have not satisfied the constitutional requirements, you have by so doing ended democracy. The crisis that I’m telling you now is that this our democracy is going to end by the way we are going May 29, 2023.”
Although Obi’s running mate, made frivolous statement, by saying that electing Tinubu was the end of democracy, his statement however cannot be said to incite violence.
Peter Obi days after the Presidential election disassociated himself from the various calls for a protest peddled on social media. He however noted that he would address his grievance in court.
Following the statement by the minister, Obi further reiterated his stands in a statement made available to the press.
“I have never discussed or encouraged anyone to undermine the Nigerian state; I have never sponsored or preached any action against the Nigerian state,” he said in response to Mohammed.
Verdict: Lai Mohamed’s claim is misleading. Peter Obi has continuously called for peace and due process in recovering what he believes to be his mandate via constitutional means. However, Datti Baba-Ahmed has made inciting statements on national TV about the elections and Nigerian democracy.
Claim II: 2023 is the fairest, most transparent, and most authentic in the history of Nigeria.
Speaking on the conduct of the just concluded elections, Mohammed said, “We have come here to balance that skewed narratives and to tell the world unambiguously that the just concluded general election in Nigeria is the fairest, most transparent and authentic in the history of Nigeria”.
“The election is the fairest and credible because of the introduction of the Bimodal Voters Verification System (BVAS), which I regard as a game changer.”
Verification:
In comparison to other elections held, one election that has been highly commended was the 2015 general elections.
Nigeria’s general election was held in February and March 2023. Since its conduct, Nigerians have had mixed reactions with some calling for an outright cancellation.
During the general elections, there were reports of voter suppression and intimidation. People also queried the reluctance of the election umpire on the pace of uploading election results to the IReV portal.
CDD Election War Room compared the domestic and international observer reports of the 2023 elections with that of the 2015 elections to establish the fact of the claim.
For 2015 Elections
The Commonwealth observer group described the elections as generally peaceful and transparent.
African Union Election Observation Mission (AU EOM) noted that the elections were conducted in a peaceful atmosphere within the framework that satisfactorily meets the continental and regional principles of democratic elections.
The EU observer mission stated in its final report that “INEC made commendable attempts to strengthen electoral arrangements, however, systemic weaknesses leave the process vulnerable to abuse by political contenders”.
For 2023 Election
Observers groups on ground have given diverse positions on the conduct of the elections. Commonwealth observers, an independent group described the just concluded elections as “largely peaceful” despite administrative and logistical hurdles at many polling units.
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to Nigeria stated that the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections in Nigeria were marred by a lack of transparency on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
African Union Election Observation Mission noted logistical challenges, stating that “83% of the polling units visited opened late. The average delay was over an hour; in some cases they opened as late as 11:00am”.
The mission however added, “that despite the challenging economic, operational and security environment, the elections were generally well-administered in a transparent and peaceful atmosphere”.
Verdict
The CDD Election War Room found no evidence to adjudge the 2023 general election as the fairest, most transparent, and most authentic in the history of Nigeria. Domestic and International Observers noted multiple flaws in the conduct of the elections as stated in their individual reports.
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