After the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, stated that President Muhammadu Buhari did not grant any advantage to his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Presidential election held on Feb. 25.

Mohammed was addressing State House correspondents when he made clarifications on 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 further added that the President had promised to ensure a fair and level playing field, and he kept his word.

“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 explained that during his recent trip to the U.S., he had shared that President Buhari had lost in his home state of Kastina during the presidential election, which was unprecedented in Nigeria’s history for a sitting president to lose in their own state. He also stated that he had highlighted how President Buhari ensured that security agencies were not used to rig the elections, making the last election one of the least violent in Nigeria’s history.

The minister clarified that his comments about Mr Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, were clear and unambiguous.

“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.

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p data-reader-unique-id=”25″>“ So, I don’t see anything controversial in that,’’ he said. (NAN)