The minister cautioned the Labour Party flag bearers from inciting people to violence over the outcome of the Presidential elections.
The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian government has accused the Labour Party's presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Baba Datti-Ahmed, of treason going by their comments about the outcome of the 2023 general elections.
Speaking for the government, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in Washington DC, United States, stated this during his official engagement with some international media organisations.
Mohammed said Obi’s comments on the just concluded general elections showed he (Obi) was acting like “a desperate person; he is not a democrat that he claimed to be.”
The minister cautioned the Labour Party flag bearers from inciting people to violence over the outcome of the Presidential elections.
The minister stated that it was wrong for Obi to seek redress in court over the election results while inciting people to violence in another.
He 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 a democrat that he claimed to be. A democrat should not believe in democracy only when he wins election,” he said.
The minister stated that by contesting the election results, neither Obi nor the Peoples Democratic Party's Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had a chance of winning.
Both Obi and Atiku, according to the minister, failed to meet the constitutional requirements to be declared as president.