The leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has demanded the prosecution of the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, for spreading fake news against the Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
The minister, on April 4 in the United States accused Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, of inciting violence in Nigeria.
The warning followed insistence by the duo that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, did not meet the constitutional requirement to be declared as the winner of the February 25 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Baba-Ahmed, who featured in a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, asked President Mohammadu Buhari and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to stay away from the May 29 inauguration ceremony in the interest of Nigerians.
The remark later sparked criticisms from Nigerians.
Clark, who reacted to Mohammed’s comment in a statement in Abuja, accused the minister of using his position to commit an illegitimate act.
He also dismissed the claim of a plot by some individuals to foist an interim government on Nigeria.
The elder statesman urged the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to conduct a thorough investigation into Mohammed’s activities and charge him to court for spreading fake news in the country.
Clark said: “As I said, Lai Mohammed did not base his information on any credible intelligence report from the state agencies, but on propaganda and falsity. Therefore, I am of the opinion that he should be charged for spreading unhealthy information and fake news against an innocent Nigerian who is very prominent and has proven his worth in the country. Lai Mohammed used the exalted position of the office of the nation’s Ministry of Information to commit this perfidy.
“As Lai Mohammed knows well, most Nigerians today are very keen observers of what is going on in the country. We have also continued to watch and closely watch actions, inactions, and utterances by the key political actors and their close associates. It is therefore totally unacceptable that a minister in charge of a sensitive government department as dissemination of information should constitute himself to become the purveyor of false information, innuendos, and even fake news.
“It is clear therefore that the minister of information has constituted himself to become the mastermind and disseminator of fake news. This leaves us with no option but to call on the attorney general of the nation to undertake a thorough investigation of the activities of the minister and charge him to court.
“It is criminal, unpatriotic, and wicked for anyone to draw the name of Peter Obi who fully participated in the 2023 presidential election and who has gone to court to express his dissatisfaction with the outcome of the presidential election and his popularity which has spread to all part of the country as a wildfire has no doubt caused a great embarrassment to the Federal government.”