The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi has been warned by the Federal Government against encouraging Nigerians to carry out violence over the outcome of the presidential election.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed issued this warning in Washington DC during his official engagements with some international media organisations.
According to Mohammed, it is wrong for Obi to seek redress in court over the outcome of the presidential election and on the other hand incite people to violence.
The Minister said, “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.”
Speaking on the move by Obi and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to challenge the presidential election, he said both Obi and Atiku failed to meet the constitutional requirements to be declared as president.
He said, “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, but 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.”
The minister said Atiku who came second with 6.9 million votes was only able to make one-quarter of the votes cast in 21 states.
He said Obi came third with 5.8 million votes but won only one-quarter of the votes cast in 15 states.
The Minister further stated, “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.”
Speaking on his mission to the US, Mohammed said he was there to correct the statements of the opposition on the election.
He said the opposition having lost in the election is calling for its cancellation and constitution of the interim government.
Mohammed added, “We have come here to balance that skewed narratives and to tell the world unambiguously that the just concluded general elections in Nigeria are the fairest, most transparent and authentic in the history of Nigeria.
“The election is the fairest and most credible because of the introduction of the Bimodal Voters Verification System (BVAS) which I regard as a game changer.”
Speaking on the effect of BVAS on the election, he said BVAS, during the polls, worked 97 per cent giving unparalleled credibility to the elections.
