Nigerian Govt Makes Strong Allegation Against Peter Obi, Datti-Ahmed

The Nigerian government has accused the Labour Party Presidential candidate for the February 25th General Election, Mr. Peter Obi, and his vice, Baba Datti-Ahmed of treason.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed during engagements with journalists in Washington DC in the United States.

Mr. Mohammed accused the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, of inciting people to violence over the outcome of the presidential elections, saying it is treasonable.

It would be recalled that Mr. Obi was declared third in the 25 February presidential election while Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC, and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP were declared first and second respectively.
However, challenging the results of the election in court, Obi is positing that the election and result collation was flawed. Albeit, both men have publicly called on their supporters to refrain from violence while they challenge the results in court.

The Allegation
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that. Mr. Mohammed is in Washington to engage with international mediorganizationsns and Think-tanks on the just concluded 2023 polls.

It also reports that the minister had so far engaged respectively with the “Washington Post”, Voice of America, Associated Pre, ss, and Foreign Policy Magazine.

During the respective interactions with the mediorganizationsns, the minister said it was wrong for.Mr. Obi on one breadth to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and on another breadth incite people to violence.

“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,” he said.

The minister said in challenging the election results, there was no pathway to victory for either. Mr. Obi or Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to the minister, both Messrs Obi and Atiku failed to meet the constitutional requirements to be declared as president.

“The constitution has stringent criteria for anybody who wants to be president of the country.

“Not only must he have the plurality of votes cast in an election but, he must also have scored one-quarter of votes cast in at least 25 states.

“Only the president-elect met the criteria by scoring 8.79 million votes and having one-quarter of all the vote cast in 29 states of the federation,” he said.

The minister said Atiku came second with 6.9 million votes but was only able to make one-quarter of the votes cast in 21 states.

He said. Mr. Obi came third with 5.8 million votes but won only one-quarter of the votes cast in 15 states.

“You cannot win an election in a poll where you can come to a distant third position and failed to meet constitutional requirements.

“Peter Obi, while complaining of fraud, has not disowned his victory in Lagos,” 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.”

Recall that Messrs Obi and Atiku are currently in court to challenge the results of the 25 February presidential election.