Lai Mohammed: Even With 10 Million Votes, Obi Could Not Have Won 2023 Election

  By Awwal Umar Kontagora Former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has maintained that the Labour Party presidential...

 

By Awwal Umar Kontagora

Former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has maintained that the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, would not have emerged winner even if he had secured as many as 10 million votes.

Mohammed made the assertion during an appearance on State Affairs, a podcast hosted by Edmund Obilo, where he revisited the constitutional requirements and political dynamics that shaped the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.

According to the former minister, Nigeria’s Constitution clearly stipulates that beyond winning the majority of votes cast, a presidential candidate must also secure at least one-quarter of the votes in no fewer than 25 states of the federation.

“Even if Obi had got 10 million votes, he wouldn’t have won,” Mohammed said. “This is because he could not secure one-quarter of the votes cast in 25 states. It is also on record that he could not deploy party agents to about 40,000 polling units.”

Reflecting on factors that influenced the election, particularly in Lagos State, Mohammed noted that ethnicity and religion played an unusually prominent role.

“For the first time in the history of politics in Nigeria, ethnicity and religion played a very frontal role,” he said.

He also linked voting patterns in Lagos to the lingering effects of the #EndSARS protests, arguing that youth anger and a desire for retribution shaped political choices in ways that were unfavourable to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Mohammed further distinguished presidential elections from governorship and National Assembly contests, noting that the dynamics differ significantly.

“Presidential elections are not as personal as governorship or National Assembly elections,” he said. “In governorship elections, it is more particular and peculiar because the candidate lives in the state and is directly known to the people.”

Speaking on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership style, the former minister dismissed claims that the President abandons political allies after electoral losses.

“Asiwaju is not the kind of person who will withdraw his support because you lost an election. He will still encourage you,” Mohammed stated.

He added that Tinubu is often underestimated because of his warm and charismatic personality, stressing that beneath it lies a highly strategic political mind.

“He is strategic and understands Nigerian politics better than many people think,” Mohammed concluded.

The remarks have once again reignited public debate over the 2023 presidential election, its outcome, and the constitutional framework that governed the race.