The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said many foreign commentators were surprised by the outcome of the 2023 Nigerian Presidential election.
He stated that the foreigners had a wrong mindset about Nigeria’s election prior to the polls.
Mohammed said this in London during his engagements with some international media organisations and Think Tanks.
While speaking in the meetings, Mohammed noted that some of the observers were of the opinion that Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi would win the election.
He said that the mindset was a result of the social media hyped activities of the Obidients.
The Minister, who is in London to defend the outcome of the elections, has so far engaged with three international media organisations, The Economist, The Guardian and African Confidential, as well as Think Tank, Royal African Society.
According to him, “In the course of my interactions, particularly with the Economist, I referred them to an earlier article they wrote, in which they rated the Labour Party Presidential candidate as the front runner in the polls.
“I explained to them that there was no way a presidential candidate who has no political spread and a grassroots base could win an election in Nigeria.
“I also explained to them that many of them were ignorant of the constitutional requirements for a presidential candidate to win an election in Nigeria.
“For instance, not only that the candidate must have the plurality of votes, he must also have one-quarter of the total vote cast in at least 25 states of the federation.”
The minister added: “When you look at the results, only the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, met these requirements.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, came short of these because he came second and had 25 per cent in 21 states.
“Obi came far behind with 25 per cent in 15 states.
“This means that Obi, who was wrongly adjudged as a front runner in the election, was virtually unknown and unpopular in 22 states.“
