2023 Presidency: Lai Mohammed Defends Treason Comments On Obi, Baba-Ahmed

Lai Mohammed has stated why he linked the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed with treason while speaking on the conduct of the general elections in the United States.

Defending his words after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of Culture and Information said Obi is free to seek redress but has no right to call for insurrection.

Mohammed stated that Obi's failure to correct Baba-Ahmed's remark on the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, not being sworn in is tantamount to treason.

Lai Mohammed

“I said 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 would be the end of democracy.

“And that was precisely what Obi’s running mate said on live television and I have not heard Obi rein him in or correct him; so, if your running mate says something; of course, he was saying on behalf of the party and on behalf of the candidate.

“That is why I said that was treason; for anybody to say that if a duly elected president in Nigeria is sworn in, that will be the end of democracy is treason; for anybody to say if you swear in a duly elected president, you are swearing the military, it is treason.

“So, I don’t see anything controversial in that", he stated.