PDP Would Have Won 2023 Presidential Election If Peter Obi Stayed With Atiku – Lai Mohammed

A former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Lai Mohammed, has claimed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could have won the 2023 presidential election if the former Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, had remained in the party and continued his alliance with Atiku Abubakar.

Mohammed, who spoke during an appearance on Edmund Obilo’s podcast, State Affairs, argued that Obi’s exit from the PDP and subsequent candidacy under the Labour Party split the opposition’s votes and altered the electoral dynamics.

“I think that if he had stayed with Atiku, PDP would have won,” Mohammed said.

Naija News reports that the immediate past minister went further, declaring that Obi would not have become President even if he had secured as many as 10 million votes.

“Even if Peter Obi had won 10 million votes, he could not have become president,” Mohammed stated.

He dismissed widespread claims that Obi was rigged out of the election, insisting that the Labour Party candidate neither won the poll nor was unfairly denied victory.

“After the election, its legitimacy was being questioned, if you remember. As a matter of fact, the Labour Party, if you go to social media in 2023, you would feel it won the election; they were everywhere on social media.

“And they did not win the election. Unfortunately, the perception out there was that they won and were rigged out. They did not win and were not rigged out,” he said.

‘Peter Obi Came Third’

Mohammed maintained that the results of the 2023 presidential election were clear and in line with constitutional provisions.

He explained that Nigeria’s constitution stipulates two conditions for a presidential candidate to be declared the winner: securing the highest number of votes cast nationwide and obtaining at least one-quarter of the votes in two-thirds of the states.

“The constitution of Nigeria is very clear: you need two requirements to win the presidential election. First, you must have scored the highest number of votes; second, you must also have scored at least one-quarter of the votes cast in two-thirds of the states,” he said.

According to him, Obi did not meet either threshold.

“The results are there: Obi did not come first, he did not even come second; he came a close third to Atiku.

“However, he scored one-quarter of the votes cast in 15 states, Atiku scored one-quarter of the votes cast in 21 states, and only Asiwaju had the majority of votes and one-quarter of votes cast in 29 states of the federation,” Mohammed added, referring to President Bola Tinubu by his popular title.

‘Peter Obi Was Not The Biggest Headache’

Contrary to narratives that Obi posed a major electoral threat, Mohammed said the former Anambra State governor was not the biggest challenge in the contest.

“Obi was not the biggest headache,” he said, reiterating his belief that a united PDP front would have changed the outcome of the election.

He also disclosed that he and his team embarked on a diplomatic effort to counter what he described as misinformation about the election’s legitimacy.

“I took it upon myself and my team to meet think tanks in the US, UK, and international media, and we explained to them why Peter Obi could not have won the presidential election,” he said.

Mohammed recalled that the election’s credibility was questioned in some international circles following the announcement of results, prompting engagements abroad.

According to him, the outreach was aimed at clarifying constitutional requirements and presenting the official figures to counter the narrative that Obi had been denied victory.