Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
USAfrica: Peter Obi dismisses Lai Mohammed’s accusation of “treason” as “malicious”and “fictitious”
Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Nigeria’s Labour Party in the February 2023 election, has dismissed the allegations of treason and icitement of insurrection made by Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. He accused Obi and his deputy, Sen. Baba Datti-Ahmed, of treason and inciting Nigerians to oppose INEC’s declaration of former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President-elect.
Obi said that he has since taken the legal, judicial route to fight for his mandate “Any person ‘seeing’ treason in a clear legal process should explain to Nigerians how opting for the tribunal by myself and my Deputy amounts to treason,” Obi said.
Mohammed is quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria as having said that “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.”
In his rebuttal, Obi stated that “In the past few days, I’ve observed various campaigns of calumny directed at my person, the latest being allegations attributed to the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, in Washington DC. It is most unfortunate that these consistent efforts to portray me in a manner, quite contrary to what I am and my core values, are coming from such high quarters. Minister Lai accusing me of stoking the fire of insurrection is totally fictitious and malicious. I have never advocated or encouraged anyone to undermine the Nigerian state; I’ve never sponsored or preached any action against the Nigerian state.”
“Mohammed said earlier that “We have come here to balance that skewed narrative and to tell the world unambiguously that the just concluded general elections in Nigeria is the fairest, most transparent and authentic in the history of Nigeria.
Obi, a very frugal businessman, condemned Mohammed’s trip as a waste of Nigeria’s resources and is laughable since “most of those countries sent their people to monitor the election and have all received reports from the monitors, as well as from their embassies…. Between Lai Mohammed and their monitors/embassies, who would these countries believe. The billions spent on those meaningless trips would be enough to fix several dilapidated schools in the country.“
Obi, former Governor of Anambra: “I’m on record, as always, advocating peace and issue-based campaign, NOT a campaign based on ethnicity or religion. I’m committed to Due Process and presently seeking redress in Court. I urge those engaged in this demarketing process to stop presenting Nigeria in such bad light. Our future generations deserve a new Nigeria where they can live a secure and decent life, like their counterparts in other climes. And this is possible.”
The treason allegation, intimidation and threats against those seeking the legal road of litigation over rigging issues, violence against targetted voters and ethnicities have continued to raise concerns by many international human rights organizations.
