Tag: Lai mohammed

Lai Mohammed Credits Media Strategy for APC’s 2023 Win

Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said a coordinated media strategy highlighting the achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari administration played a key role in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 general election.

Mohammed made the claim in his new book, Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments that Defined an Administration, which chronicles his experiences in government between 2015 and 2023.

According to him, the strategy was developed amid persistent claims by opposition parties that the APC-led administration lacked tangible achievements and did not deserve another term in office.

He described the narrative as a deliberate attempt to discredit the government ahead of the polls, noting that repetition was used to entrench the claims in public discourse. “As the popular aphorism goes, ‘Say it loud, say it often, and it no longer matters if it’s true,’” Mohammed wrote.

In response, he said his ministry adopted a two-pronged approach: systematically showcasing government achievements and countering what he described as misleading opposition narratives.

Mohammed said that on October 18, 2022 — about 130 days to the general election — the ministry launched the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Administration Scorecard Series, covering achievements from 2015 to 2023.

Under the initiative, ministers were required to present evidence-based reports of accomplishments in their sectors, followed by interactive question-and-answer sessions with journalists to allow for scrutiny and clarification.

He added that the presentations were amplified through a multi-platform communication strategy spanning traditional and digital media to reach a broad audience.

The former minister said the effort culminated on February 22, 2023, three days before the presidential election, with the launch of legacy documentation tools, including documentaries, testimonial series, print and electronic compendiums, and an online legacy portal.

Mohammed argued that anchoring the campaign on documented performance shifted the dynamics of the election, compelled opposition parties to respond to verifiable records, and helped the APC reconnect with undecided voters while countering misinformation.

14/01/2026
Buhari’s ex-minister, Lai Mohammed gets new appointment

A former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has been appointed as the managing partner of Ballard Partners, an international lobbying firm.

This comes less than two weeks after ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet was dissolved.

Mohammed’s new role was confirmed in a statement shared on Ballard Partner’s official Twitter page on Tuesday.

It read: “Ballard Partners, one of the top government relations firms in the United States, is opening its first office in Africa in Abuja, Nigeria, the nation’s capital.

“Lai Mohammed, the immediate past Nigeria minister of information and culture, will serve as the managing partner of the Abuja office and the firm’s satellite office in Lagos, the nation’s financial centre.”

The firm’s president noted that Mohammed was given the role, because he “is one of the most respected officials in the country”.

07/06/2023
FG to Atiku, Obi: Tinubu won Presidential Election fair and square

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has advised the opposition to stop their endless griping over the 2023 presidential election which they lost woefully, saying they know very well that they deserve to lose the election because of their overconfidence and complacency.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the Minister said Mr. President’s analysis on the reasons for the opposition’s loss in the 2023 elections was incontrovertible.

He said the President deserves nothing but accolades for delivering undoubtedly the best election in Nigeria’s history, adding that the tempestuous but predictable reaction to the President’s comments by the opposition has shown them for what they are: shameless sore losers.

”President Muhammadu Buhari lived up to his billing by delivering a free, fair and credible election, and his legacy is assured. The President would rather lose his state and many of his party’s strongholds than tamper with the fidelity of the election, and that is why he provided a level playing field for all parties,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said the opposition’s overconfidence going into the election stemmed in part from the blitzkrieg of social media propaganda as well as faulty and procured opinion polls, which were apparently meant to hoodwink their foreign backers and a section of the international media into uncritically reporting that they were coasting home to victory, when they were indeed heading into the ravine of defeat.

The Minister said the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, won the presidential election fair and square, clinching the majority of the votes cast and surpassing the constitutionally-stipulated 25% of votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the states in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

”Going by the results, none of the opposition parties met any of the conditions stipulated for winning the presidential election. They didn’t even come close, in spite of their pre-election grandstanding.

”They (opposition) keep leaning on some international observers to justify their fraudulent claim that the election was rigged. They conveniently forgot what Ambassador Johnnie Carson, the revered US diplomat who co-led the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI) International Election Observation Mission to Nigeria said: that the APC candidate undoubtedly won the polls.

”They also forgot that the African Union Election Observation Mission to Nigeria said the atmosphere was generally calm and peaceful in 95% of the polling units visited,” he said, adding that it is on the strength of these reports that many nations, including the US and the UK, wasted no time in congratulating the victorious APC Presidential Candidate.

Alhaji Mohammed slammed the opposition for continuously seeking to mislead the world by clutching at the weak straw that results were not immediately uploaded onto the IReV Portal, as if the portal has any role to play in the collation of results.

”The opposition’s insinuation that the failure to immediately upload the result of the presidential election onto IReV affected the credibility of the election is a fraud. It is an act of blackmail and deceit by desperate individuals.

”The opposition Labour Party, in particular, will go down in the history books as the first-ever distant third-place finisher in a presidential election anywhere to have bold-facedly claimed victory,” he said.

Segun Adeyemi
Special Assistant to the President (Media)
Office of the Minister of information and Culture
Abuja
30 April 2023

01/05/2023
You are “shameless sore losers” – FG replies opposition attacking Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari

The Federal Government has described the opposition attacking President Muhammadu Buhari over his recent comment on the 2023 Presidential elections as “shameless sore losers”.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the President’s analysis on the reasons for the opposition’s loss in the 2023 elections is incontrovertible.

The statement was made available to newsmen in Abuja by Mr Segun Adeyemi, the Special Assistant to the President (Media), in the Office of the Minister.

The minister reiterated the position of the President that the opposition in the 2023 presidential election lost in the poll due to their overconfidence, complacency and bad tactical moves.

“Opposition’s overconfidence going into the election stemmed in part from the blitzkrieg of social media propaganda as well as faulty and procured opinion polls.

“These were apparently meant to hoodwink their foreign backers and a section of the international media into uncritically reporting that they were coasting home to victory, when they were indeed heading into the ravine of defeat,” he said.

Mohammed advised the opposition to stop their endless griping over the polls which they lost, adding the president deserves accolades for delivering the best election in Nigeria’s history.

”President Muhammadu Buhari lived up to his billing by delivering a free, fair and credible election, and his legacy is assured.

“The President would rather lose his state and many of his party’s strongholds than tamper with the fidelity of the election, and that is why he provided a level-playing field for all parties,” he said.
According to Mohammed, the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, won the presidential election fair and square, clinching the majority of the votes cast.

He added that Tinubu surpassed the constitutionally-stipulated 25 per cent of votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the states in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

”Going by the results, none of the opposition parties met any of the conditions stipulated for winning the presidential election.

“They did not even come close, in spite of their pre-election grandstanding.

”They (opposition) keep leaning on some international observers to justify their fraudulent claim that the election was rigged,” he said.

Mohammed referred the opposition to the conclusion by Mr Johnnie Carson, the revered US diplomat, that the APC candidate “undoubtedly won the polls”.

Carson, according to the minister, co-led the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI) International Election Observation Mission to Nigeria.

”They also forgot that the African Union Election Observation Mission to Nigeria said the atmosphere was generally calm and peaceful in 95 per cent of the polling units visited.

“It is on the strength of these reports that many nations, including the US and the UK, wasted no time in congratulating the victorious APC Presidential Candidate,” he said.

The minister slammed the opposition for continuously seeking to mislead the world by clutching at the weak straw that results were not immediately uploaded onto the IReV Portal.

He stressed that the portal had no role to play in the collation of election results.
”The opposition’s insinuation that the failure to immediately upload the result of the presidential election onto IReV affected the credibility of the election is a fraud.

“It is an act of blackmail and deceit by desperate individuals.

”The opposition Labour Party, in particular, will go down in the history books as the first-ever distant third-place finisher in a presidential election anywhere to have bold-facedly claimed victory,” he said.

30/04/2023
Why I facilitated road, hospitals in Oro – Lai Mohammed

The minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says he attracted developmental projects to his home town, Oro, because of his strong bond to the community and a common notion shared by the community members.

According to the minister, an average Oro man cannot consider himself successful until he has constructed a personal building in the town and contributed to the town’s development.

Mohammed stated this in an interview with newsmen at the 2023 Oro Day Celebrations, held in the town, near Ilorin, in Kwara, and witnessed by prominent sons and daughters of the community.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that one of the major events of the celebration was the commissioning of a 80-bed Mother and Child Hospital, facilitated by the minister.

The hospital was built and equipped with state of the arts facilities by the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Mohammed recalled that he facilitated the rehabilitation of township roads in Oro which was awarded and funded by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.

He said besides providing solar powered street lights in the community, he equally attracted a 60MVA, 132/33kV transmission substation to the town.

According to the minister, the project, with 5km turn-in-turn-out Offa-Omu-Aran 132kV double circuit transmission lines, was awarded by the Federal Government through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

The substation contract was awarded in the sum of N3 billion local content and 8 million dollar (about N6 billion) foreign exchange.

Asked whether he would not be accused of bringing development to only his town to the detriments of others in the state, the minister said he had facilitated projects across the senatorial zones.

The minister said he facilitated the construction of a 40-bed Mother and Child hospital in Igbaja, a town within his Local Government Area, by the SDGs office.

He said he equally facilitated the construction of schools in Ajase town, roads in Isin Local Government Area, as well as water and roads projects in Oke-Ero LGA.

According to the minister, he attracted roads and water projects to Offa and Omu-Aran towns while in the capital city, Ilorin, he facilitated the construction of classrooms and installation of internet facilities to schools.

Mohammed, the Chief Host of the 2023 Oro Day, said the essence of the celebration was to raise funds for the community development, cultural propagation and revival and to keep the indigenes united.

Going down memory lane, Prof. Babatunde Bojuwoye, the National President of Oro community, said the first Oro Day celebrations took place in 1976 and the proceeds from it was deployed to community development.

He said the fund realised then was used to tar the town’s major internal road, provide electricity supply with street lighting, construct and equip Oro General Hospital which was later handed to the state government in 1980.

The Professor of Medicine and Consultant Physician said the second Oro day celebrations took place in 2005.

He said during the celebrations, Awards of various categories were presented to sons and daughters of Oro who had distinguished themselves and contributed to the development of the town.

Bojuwoye said the third in the series which was held recently, the proceeds from its fund raising would be deployed to the renovation of community centre, built by the community over 40 years back.

He said the fund would also be deployed for the construction of boreholes in strategic areas of the community.

The don said they also planned to use the fund to install solar-powered street light which the minister had already provided for the community.

30/04/2023
Buhari leaving legacy of quality health care delivery – Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government says the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration is leaving behind a legacy of quality health care delivery through the Universal Health Coverage.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this on Saturday at the inauguration of a 80-bed Mother and Child Hospital in his hometown, Oro, near Ilorin in Kwara.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the hospital, facilitated by the minister, was built by the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

NAN also reports that another 40-bed hospital built in Igbaja town, also facilitated by the minister through the SDG Office was also inaugurated as part of the activities.

The inaugurations were parts of activities lined-up for the 2023 Oro Day celebrations.

Mohammed said the Buhari administration was executing the universal health suffrage by expanding the net for those to be captured under the Health Insurance Programme.

“The Basic Health Care Provision Fund is being operationalised to provide health care to poor and indigent Nigerians. We will ensure availability of basic minimum package of health services.

“This will ensure that at least 100,000,000 Nigerians will have health insurance coverage through public and private sources,” he said.

The minister disclosed that the federal government was partnering with the AFREXIM Bank to host the regional centre for health excellence in Abuja.

According to him, the groundbreaking has been done and the super hospital will be managed by the King’s College Hospital, London.

“The administration’s response to health emergencies has remained unprecedented particularly how we were able to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

“Worthy of note is that under this administration, Nigeria has been certified Wild Polio Free,” he said.

On how Kwara had benefitted from the federal government’s health projects, Mohammed said no fewer than three of such hospitals and the facilities had been executed by the SDGs office in the state.

According to him, a 100-bed hospital equipped with state of the art facilities had been commissioned in Eiyenkorin, Asa Local Government Area to reduce maternal death, infant and neo-natal deaths.

The minister said the 80-bed hospital being inaugurated in Oro was equally equipped to promote the heath of mothers and children.

“It has a Theatre, Incubators, Ventilators, Phototherapy Machines, Patient Monitor, Children Beds, Examination beds, 100kva generator, Furnished and lit with solar street lights.

“This development is in line with PMB’s administration commitment to providing health facilities to cater for the needs of Nigerians.

“I am told that the SDGs Office commissioned over 35 of the 100 bed hospitals spread across the country.
“It also commissioned twenty 80-bed hospitals and numerous primary health centers across the country,” he said.

Mohammed commended the SDGs Office for the giant strides it has recorded in the provision of social services across the country particularly in remote places.
The minister appreciated the President for his numerous support to Kwara, particularly his community.

“Recall that some weeks ago, we were here to perform the groundbreaking for the construction of a power transmission sub-station.

“The network of roads constructed in Oro is also a testament of Mr President footprints in this community.

“I will urge you to continue to support the government to succeed and also to take advantage of the health facility to promote the health and well-being of mothers and children,” he said.

Speaking in the same veins, the state Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, said history would not forget Buhari for the giant stride in health sector and infrastructure development across the country.
Represented by his Commissioner for Health, Dr Raji Razaq, the governor also thanked the minister for facilitating the projects and the SDG’s office for executing them.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDG, Princess Adejoke Adefulire, urged the residents to take possession of the hospital.

She also urged women in the community and environ to put them to use, reiterating that the hospitals were equipped with modern facility not only for women and children but also for men.

Adefulire reiterated the federal government’s commitment to delivering quality health care services to the citizens.

29/04/2023
Presidential election: Buhari didn’t confer any advantage on APC— Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari did not confer any advantage on his ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) during the Feb. 25 Presidential election.

Mohammed briefed State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The minister made clarifications of his comments during a recent official trip to the U.S.

“I went to the U.S. to balance the skewed report about the just concluded elections; and everywhere I went, I said very unambiguously that the last general elections in Nigeria are the most transparent.

“It was the freest and the most authentic Nigeria had ever held; and that is despite the effort of the opposition to delegitimise the election.

“And I put forward my position there that the two reasons the election was the best was one.

“That the introduction of technology especially, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System(BVAS), made it pretty difficult for anybody to do the usual things before like over-voting, stuffing of ballot boxes and the likes because once it takes your biometrics; you cannot vote twice.’’

He said, more so, that president promised that he would provide a level playing ground which he did.

“The first instance was that the president did not confer any advantage on his ruling party; and that why as far as he was concerned, he would rather lose the election than win at all cost; and the result showed it.’’

Mohammed said that the president lost in his own state, Kastina, in the presidential election.

He said that it had never happened in Nigeria before—for a sitting president to lose election in his own state.

The minister said he told his audience in the U.S. that the president prevented the use of security agencies to rig elections.

He said that the last election was largely the least violent in the history of Nigeria.

Mohammed affirmed that what he said about Mr Peter Obi, the Labour party presidential candidate was very clear.

“I said Obi has every right to seek redress in court like Labour party but nobody has the right to call for insurrection or to threaten to say that if the president-elect is sworn-in, that would be the end of democracy.

“And that was precisely what Obi’s running mate said on live television and I have not heard Obi rein him in or correct him; so, if your running mate says something; of course, he was saying on behalf of the party and on behalf of the candidate.

“That is why I said that was treason; for anybody to say that if a duly elected president in Nigeria is sworn in, that will be the end of democracy is treason; for anybody to say if you swear in a duly elected president, you are swearing the military, it is treason.

“ So, I don’t see anything controversial in that,’’ he said.

20/04/2023
Peter Obi: Call for my arrest baseless – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed on Wednesday, said
the call for his arrest and prosecution for admonishing Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, over inciting the public to violence is unjustifiable.

Mohammed stated this in London while reacting to the call by Edwin Clark, an Elder Statesman and Leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), that he should be arrested and prosecuted for spreading “fake news” about Obi.

The minister said he stood by his admonition of Obi, a former Anambra State governor, and his LP running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, saying that his advice was never premised on falsehood.

“What will be my offence? Is it by chiding the 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 would be the end of democracy in
Nigeria?

“Is it to chide him for saying that swearing in Tinubu on May 29 is like swearing in the military?
“What is the fake news in that?” Mohammed queried.

He added, “The position of the law is clear that anybody who’s aggrieved over election results should go to court.

“It’s not to start threatening Nigerians and heating up the polity simply because you lost an election.”

The minister stressed that the APC won the Feb. 25 presidential election

“fair and square”, and INEC was correct in declaring Tinubu the winner.

12/04/2023
Why Tinubu’s victory took foreign commentators by surprise – FG

Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Many foreign commentators were astonished by the outcome of the 2023 Nigerian Presidential election because of their wrong mindset prior to the polls, the Federal Government has said.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this in London during his engagements with some international media organisations and Think Tanks.

The minister is in London to defend the legitimacy of the just concluded general elections and correct the imbalance in the skewed narratives which had pervaded the air regarding the polls.

The minister has so far engaged with three international media organisations, The Economist, The Guardian and African Confidential, as well as Think Tank, Royal African Society.

During his respective meeting with them, the minister said some of the commentators had the wrong mindset that the Labour Party and its Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, would win the election.

He said the wrong mindset was premised on the hyped activities of the Labour Party and their supporters on the social media, as well as the outcomes of various opinion polls which were unrepresentative of the situation in Nigeria.

“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,“ he said.

Mohammed reiterated his position that there was no pathway to victory for either Atiku or Obi in the poll because they did not meet the conditions to be declared president.

“For any party to ignore the North-East and the North-West Zones of Nigeria during a presidential election, it will be impossible for it to win.

“The election had thrown up a lot of surprises and it is precisely those surprises that made it credible and transparent, “he said.

On the issue of large turnout of youths for voter registration before the election, the minister explained that winning an election was beyond registration.

`What INEC did was to ensure the extension of voter registration exercise for about 18 months so that people will not be disenfranchised.

“However, it is one thing to register to vote and it is another thing to come out to vote on an election day.

“Those 24 million people that came out to vote during the polls were the authentic people that concluded the processes of election,” he said.

The minister said INEC should be praised for the introduction and the strict usage of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

He said BVAS was a technology that paved the way for check-and-balance and prevented fraud and other irregularities during the elections.

According to the minister, BVAS cut out fraudulent votes, ghost voters and multiple votes.

Mohammed said from the outcome of his engagements so far, the international community had come to the viewpoint that the 2023 elections were the fairest and most transparent in Nigeria history.

12/04/2023
FG asks Obi to clarify on leaked audio with Oyedepo

The Federal Government of Nigeria has challenged the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, to clarify his position on a leaked audio of the conversation he purportedly had with Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide.

The audio, as released by an online newspaper, was an alleged conversation between Obi and Oyedepo.

Addressing the media on Monday in London, Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, called on Obi to clarify what he meant by saying the leaked conversation was “a fake doctored audio call.”

Mohammed said: “If it’s fake, it means it never took place. But if it’s doctored, it means there was that conversation, but it was manipulated.

“[Peter] Obi needs to come out and make the clarification on whether the conversation didn’t take place or it took place, but it was doctored.

“If it was doctored, which part of it was doctored?

“Is it the beginning, the middle or the end or is it the ‘Yes Daddy’ part of it, or where he said it was a religious war?”

11/04/2023