Lai Mohammed: Obi couldn’t have won 2023 Presidency even with 10 million votes
Former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has stated that the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi, would not have emerged winner even if he had secured as many as 10 million votes.
Mohammed made the assertion during an appearance on State Affairs, a podcast hosted by broadcaster Edmund Obilo, where he argued that Obi failed to satisfy the constitutional requirements needed to clinch the presidency.
He explained that Nigeria’s electoral framework mandates that, beyond polling the highest number of votes, a presidential candidate must also obtain at least 25 per cent of the votes in no fewer than 25 states of the federation.
“Even if Obi had polled 10 million votes, he still wouldn’t have won because he did not secure one-quarter of the votes in 25 states,” Mohammed said.
He also claimed that Obi lacked polling agents in about 40,000 polling units across the country.
The former minister further attributed aspects of the 2023 presidential election outcome, particularly in Lagos State, to the heightened role of ethnic and religious sentiments.
He described the development as unprecedented, noting that ethnicity and religion played a more prominent role in that election than at any other time in Nigeria’s political history.
Mohammed also said the #EndSARS protests influenced voting behaviour in Lagos, with many youths harbouring unresolved grievances that negatively affected the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to him, the protests shaped the political mood in the state, creating resentment among young voters that worked against the ruling party.
In his remarks, Mohammed distinguished presidential elections from governorship and National Assembly contests, saying presidential polls tend to feel less personal to voters than state-level elections where candidates often have closer ties to the electorate.
He also commented on President Tinubu’s leadership style, describing him as a loyal political ally who continues to support associates even after electoral losses.
“Asiwaju is not the type to withdraw support because someone lost an election.
He still encourages and stands by them,” Mohammed said, adding that Tinubu’s open and approachable nature often leads people to underestimate his political depth and strategic experience.
