Labour Party, on Tuesday rebuked the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammed, over anti-Peter Obi comments in which he accused the LP presidential candidate in the 2023 elections “of inciting people to violence”.
In a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, in response to Lai Mohammed’s comments during the latter’s official engagements with some international media organisations in Washington DC, Abure said that the Minister’s comment was done in bad fate.
Mohammed had during interactions with some media organisations in the US said it was wrong for Obi on one breadth to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and on another breadth inciting people to violence.
He said, “It is our considered opinion that it is even the APC through their spokespersons and all others who have been engaged in provocative utterances in order to cause chaos that should be admonished. The admonition is largely for APC themselves, their spokespersons and their officials”.
The statement reads in part, “The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who was on a familiarisation tour of misinforming the international community of the true political situation in Nigeria yesterday during his official engagements with some international media organisations in Washington DC admonished Mr. Obi for weeping up sentiments across Nigeria.
“The Minister who engaged respectively with the “Washington Post”, Voice of America, Associated Press and Foreign Policy Magazine said it was wrong for Obi on one breadth to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and on another breadth inciting people to violence.
Let me state categorically that there are no bases for that admonition. Our presidential candidate is a peaceful and law abiding person”.
Abure insisted that even though “the election was provocatively rigged”, Obi chose to be peaceful and toe the part of justice “in spite of all pressures from our supporters to move into the street to protest the outcome of the general election and to reclaim the mandate freely given to our candidate by the people, he has decided to calm the nerves in order to give the judicial process a chance”.
He stated further “that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party is the only candidate whose campaign was issues based.
“In spite of all provocation, it was the Labour party and its candidate that was attacked in Lagos, in Port Harcourt and all other states in the federation. But we have continued to promote peace”.