Lai Mohammed says Peter Obi could not have won the 2023 election under Nigeria’s constitution
Former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Lai Mohammed, has declared that former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi would not have become president in the 2023 election even if he had polled 10 million votes.
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Speaking on Edmund Obilo’s podcast, State Affairs, Mohammed stressed that Obi was not “rigged out” of the election and did not pose a significant challenge during the contest.
“Even if Peter Obi had won 10 million votes, he could not have become president,” Mohammed said, recalling efforts to clarify the election outcome to international observers.
“After the election, its legitimacy was being questioned. Social media suggested the Labour Party won, but they did not.”
Mohammed said he and his team travelled abroad to engage with think tanks in the United States, the United Kingdom, and international media to explain why Obi could not have won.
He outlined Nigeria’s constitutional requirements for presidential victory, emphasising two conditions: the candidate must secure the highest number of votes and achieve at least one-quarter of votes cast in two-thirds of the states.
“Obi did not come first, he did not even come second; he came a close third to Atiku,” Mohammed said.
According to the former minister, Obi secured one-quarter of votes in 15 states, compared with Atiku’s 21 states and the eventual winner, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in 29 states.
Mohammed also suggested that Obi’s presence in the contest did not significantly alter the outcome: “Obi was not the biggest headache, and I think that if he had stayed with Atiku, PDP would have won.”
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The comments are likely to reignite discussions over the 2023 election and the constitutional framework governing presidential victories in Nigeria.
