The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Wednesday in far away London reacted to the call for his arrest over his recent comment in the United States about Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Elder Statesman and Leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, had called for the arrest and prosecution of the minister for spreading “fake news” about Obi.
Mohammed however said the call was unjustifiable as he only admonished the Labour Party Presidential candidates over inciting the public to violence.
The minister said he stood by his admonition of Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, insisting that his advice was never premised on falsehood.
“What will be my offence? Is it by chiding 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 that would be the end of democracy in Nigeria?
“Is it for chiding him for saying that swearing-in Tinubu on May 29 is like swearing-in the military?
“What is the fake news in that?” the minister queried.
He also pointed out that Obi had not publicly called his running mate to order over the treasonable utterances and neither had Baba-Ahmed denied his statement made on the live television.
“The position of the law is clear that anybody who is aggrieved over election results should go to court.
“It is not to start threatening Nigerians and heating up the polity simply because you lost an election,” he said.
