How strategic messaging helped deliver Tinubu’s 2023 election victory — Lai Mohammed
Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has shed light on the communication strategy he says played a key role in securing President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.
Mohammed made the disclosure in his newly launched book, Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments that Defined an Administration, which captures his experiences while serving under the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, the All Progressives Congress (APC) went into the election season confronted by a dominant opposition narrative portraying the Buhari administration as a failure with no tangible achievements to present to Nigerians.
He described the narrative as misleading and deliberately constructed to weaken the ruling party’s electoral chances.
Mohammed explained that although ministers were prohibited from direct political campaigning, he adopted a carefully measured strategy anchored on facts, performance, and public accountability.
He said his ministry focused on countering misinformation by systematically highlighting and defending the achievements of the Buhari administration.
A major pillar of this effort, he revealed, was the launch of the PMB Administration Scorecard Series in October 2022, during which ministers publicly presented verifiable records of their accomplishments under intense media scrutiny.
The initiative, he noted, was reinforced through documentaries, official publications, and a dedicated online portal released in the build-up to the general election.
Mohammed said the coordinated communication campaign shifted national conversations, forced the opposition into a defensive position, and strengthened the APC’s campaign narrative, ultimately boosting Tinubu’s electoral fortunes.
Quoting a popular saying, he remarked: “Say it loud, say it often, and it no longer matters if it’s true,” noting that he was fully aware of how powerful repeated misinformation could be.
To counter this, he said he pursued a dual strategy of showcasing documented achievements and dismantling what he described as false opposition claims.
“Exactly 130 days to the general elections, on October 18, 2023, we launched the PMB Administration Scorecard Series to present verified accomplishments of the Buhari administration during a politically sensitive period,” he said.
Under the programme, Mohammed explained, ministers delivered evidence-based presentations on their sectors, followed by rigorous question-and-answer sessions in which journalists interrogated the claims and demanded clarifications.
He added that the initiative was widely amplified across both traditional and digital media platforms.
According to him, the effectiveness of the strategy lay in its emphasis on factual communication and documented performance rather than overt political campaigning, a method he said helped counter misinformation and shape voter perception in favour of the APC.
