FCT, Abuja – Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has narrated how his office discredited the negative narrative of rigging the 2023 presidential election.
Mohammed made this revelation in a paper presented at a spokesperson summit declared open on Tuesday, April 15, in Abuja by the incumbent Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris.
In a copy of the presentation obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, April 16, the former minister recalled that just before leaving office in 2023, former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government was faced with allegations of rigging the presidential poll.
As reported by Vanguard, Lai Mohammed said the allegation was largely centred around the delay in uploading results to the IReVportal which, according to him, played no role in the official collation of election results.
According to Mohammed, the development was compounded by misplaced sentiments, fueled by sections of the international media that had relied on questionable pre-election opinion polls and social media noise, suggesting that the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, had won the election.
In correcting the negative narrative, Lai Mohammed said his office opted for an evidence-based approach provided to both local and foreign media organisations and influential think tanks.
Mohammed added:
To further dispel the allegations of rigging, the former minister said they laid out compelling evidence that the APC lost in key states with high number of registered voters â Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, and Katsina â even though all had APC governors.
Mohammed said that with the approach and engagements, they were able to effectively reshape the global narrative.
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Meanwhile, TimesNow.com.ng reported that INEC has dismissed the claim that its chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has been sacked by President Bola Tinubu.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, the chief press secretary to Yakubu, in a statement on Monday, April 7, urged Nigerians to dismiss the report and that it was not true.
There has been a claim on social media that Tinubu has sacked Yakubu as INEC chairman and replaced him with Professor Bashiru Olamikan.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
