Peter Obi, the LP presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election has been accused of treason by the Nigerian government, weeks after the governing party’s candidate claimed victory in a closely fought presidential election.
Speaking to journalists in Washington, DC, government spokesperson Lai Mohammed explained the administration’s position.
The Labour Party’s Peter Obi has been charged with treason for allegedly inciting violence over the results of the presidential elections, according to Mr. Mohammed, the outgoing government’s minister of information.
In the presidential contest held on February 25 and won by Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC, Mr. Obi finished third. However, Mr. Obi and Atiku Abubakar, who came in second, are contesting the election results in court, claiming that the poll and result collation were defective. Both men have publicly called on their supporters to refrain from violence while they challenge the results in court.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Mohammed is in Washington to discuss the recently concluded 2023 elections with foreign media organizations and think tanks.
In addition, it highlights the minister’s interactions with the “Washington Post,” Voice of America, Associated Press, and Foreign Policy Magazine thus far.
The minister stated during the several meetings with the media outlets that it was improper for Mr. Obi to, on the one hand, seek legal redress over the election results and, on the other hand, instigate violence.
“Obi and his Vice, Datti-Ahmed, cannot scare Nigerians with the end of democracy if Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is inaugurated on May 29,”
“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 a democrat that he claimed to be.
“A democrat should not believe in democracy only when he wins election,” he said.
The minister claimed that neither Mr. Obi nor Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, had any chance of winning if the election results were challenged (PDP).
“Not only must he have the plurality of votes cast in an election, 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.
According to the minister, Atiku received 6.9 million votes, placing second, but only garnering 25% of the ballots cast across 21 states.
He claimed that even though Mr. Obi received 5.8 million votes, he only received 25% of the votes polled in the 15 states.
“You cannot win an election in a poll where you came 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.
Atiku and Obi are currently contesting the results of the presidential election on February 25 in court.