12th April, 2023
By Rotimi Ijikanmi
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has tackled elder statesman, Edwin Clark over call for his arrest and prosecution for allegedly spreading fake news against Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi.
Clark, the Leader of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF, had in a recent statement called for the arrest and prosecution of the Minister for allegedly spreading fake news against Obi.
Mohammed had during his recent visit to the United States claimed that Obi and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, made inciting comments over the outcome of the presidential elections.
Clark reacted in a statement titled, “Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information should be prosecuted for spreading fake news against the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi.
In the statement, Clark wondered why Mohammed “took more than usual interest in not only lying against Obi.”
The elder statesman added that Obi’s “rising profile” cannot be damaged by the Nigerian government.
But the Minister, in his reaction on Wednesday morning, said the call for his arrest for allegedly inciting the public to violence by Clark is unjustifiable.
The Minister said he stood by his admonition of Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, insisting that his advice was never premised on falsehood.
“What will be my offence? Is it by chiding 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?
“Is it for chiding him for saying that swearing-in Tinubu in May 29 is like swearing-in the military?
“What is the fake news in that?” the minister queried.
He said Baba-Ahmed had never denied his statement made on the live television
Mohammed also said that Obi had also not publicly called his running mate to order over the treasonable utterances.
“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 up the polity simply because you lost an election,” he said.
Mohammed stressed that the APC won the presidential election “fair and square” and INEC was right in declaring Tinubu the winner.
He reassured Nigerians and the international community that the president- elect would be sworn-in on May 29.
(NAN)