Obi wouldn’t have won 2023 poll even with 10m votes — Lai Mohammed

Former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, would still not have won the presidency even if he had secured 10 million votes.

Mohammed made the claim while speaking on broadcaster Edmund Obilo’s podcast, State Affairs, arguing that Obi failed to meet the constitutional spread required to be declared president.

According to him, Nigeria’s electoral law requires a candidate to secure not only the highest number of votes but also at least 25 per cent of votes cast in a minimum of 25 states.

“Even if Obi had got 10 million votes, he wouldn’t have won because he still could not get one-quarter of the votes cast in 25 states,” he said, adding that Obi reportedly lacked agents in about 40,000 polling units nationwide.

The former minister also attributed the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, particularly in Lagos State, to the strong influence of ethnic and religious sentiments.

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

He further said the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests affected voting patterns in Lagos, with many young people expressing lingering resentment that worked against the ruling All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Bola Tinubu.

“The #EndSARS protests had an impact, particularly in Lagos, where many youths wanted a pound of flesh, which did not help the APC or Bola Tinubu,” Mohammed said.

Mohammed distinguished between presidential elections and other contests such as governorship and National Assembly races, describing presidential polls as less personal to voters compared to state-level elections where candidates are more closely connected to constituents.

Commenting on President Tinubu’s leadership style, he said the president remains loyal to political allies even after setbacks.

“Asiwaju is not the kind of person who will drop his support for you because you have lost the election.

He will still encourage you,” he said, adding that Tinubu’s approachable nature often leads people to underestimate his political strategy and experience.