Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says there is no fake news in his comment that Labour Party (LP)’s reaction to the outcome of the presidential election is “inviting insurrection”.
According to NAN, the minister spoke on Wednesday in London.
On March 22, Baba-Ahmed, LP vice-presidential candidate, had said Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, did not meet the constitutional requirements to become Nigeria’s president.
He said Tinubu failed to fulfil the stipulated requirements and asked the chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) not to swear him in as president.
Responding to the comment, Mohammed warned Baba-Ahmed and Peter Obi, LP’s presidential candidate, against inciting violence over the outcome of the election.
He also described their actions as “treason” and accused them of threatening Nigerians.
The minster’s statement inspired a response from Edwin Clark, an Ijaw national leader and convener of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), who said Mohammed should be prosecuted for being a “mastermind and disseminator of fake news” against Obi.
Clark accused the minister of basing his comment on “propaganda and falsity” adding that it is “unpatriotic and wicked” to label such an accusation on Obi.
Replying the PANDEF leader, Mohammed said his remarks are devoid of falsehood and insisted that LP is “heating the polity” simply because the party lost an election.
“What will be my offence? Is it by chiding the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party who said on live television that if the President-elect Bola Tinubu is sworn-in on May 29 that that would be the end of democracy in Nigeria?” the minister said.
“Is it for chiding him for saying that swearing in Tinubu on May 29 is like swearing in the military?
“What is the fake news in that?
“The position of the law is clear that anybody who is aggrieved over election results should go to court.
“It is not to start threatening Nigerians and heating the polity simply because you lost an election.”
