ABUJA, NIgeria – In an escalating war of words, the Labour Party (LP) has again criticized the Nigerian government, this time targeting Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, following his endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari’s controversial statement regarding the 2023 presidential election.
Last week, the LP had already accused President Buhari of lying about the election outcome. Now, the Minister has come under fire from the opposition, who characterized his agreement with the President’s statement as a continuation of a “warped, illogical and incongruous concept”.
The LP’s Acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, issued a blistering statement on Sunday, April 30, 2023, lambasting the Minister and decrying the government’s handling of the recent election, which the party insists was “massively rigged” and fell far short of being free, fair, and credible.
“It’s heart-wrenching to hear the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, still progressing with that warped, illogical, and incongruous concept,” Ifoh said.
The party’s statement also derided Mohammed’s recent diplomatic trips to the United Kingdom and United States as “ill-fated” and a “huge failure”, accusing him of squandering taxpayers’ money in a futile attempt to restore the international reputation of President Buhari’s administration.
“It’s only the blind that will continue to insist that the 2023 presidential election, which was massively rigged, was free, fair, and credible,” the statement added.
The LP’s accusations of electoral malpractice include the alleged abandonment of real-time results uploading by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), widespread violence, ballot tampering, and the use of thugs and security agencies to manipulate results at the collation centres.
The party alleges that these malpractices have been well-documented and are currently subject to ongoing legal proceedings before an appeal tribunal. The LP warned Minister Mohammed against attempting to preempt the tribunal’s decisions, calling his actions “contemptuous”.
“We just want the Honourable Minister to know that by rigging the 2023 general election, himself, his party, the All Progressives Congress, and the leader of the party, President Buhari, have murdered sleep and they do not deserve peace,” the party declared.
The LP’s allegations, if proven true, would mark a serious setback for Nigeria’s democracy, threatening to further undermine public trust in the country’s electoral system. As the appeal tribunal’s proceedings continue, the eyes of Nigerians and the international community will be watching closely.
