Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, has called for the arrest of the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, over his comment that the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, risked treason charges for alleged inciting comments on the 2023 elections.
COSEYL which accused the Minister of smear campaign against Obi, urged the United States Government to quickly arrest the Minister currently on tour in the US, for promoting hate speech.
According to COSEYL, Mohammed’s allegations against Obi are unfounded and a deliberate ploy to divert attention away from his stolen mandate and project him as the culprit where as he is innocent, and a victim of corporate criminal conspiracy.
COSEYL in a strongly-worded statement by its President General, Goodluck Ibem, challenged Mohammed to show proof of any single comment by Obi “that amounts to inciting insurrection and committing treasonable offense against the Nigerian state.”
The statement made available to Ikengaonline read: “It is laughable that a man of Lai Mohammed’s standing who is supposed to portray the good image of the Nigerian state outside the shores of the nation is de-marketing his own country just for his own selfish political benefits and that of his political party the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“Lai Mohammed in one of his disgraceful statements said that Mr Peter Obi the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, was not supposed to go to court which is the most legitimate means to seek redress over the presidential election he clearly won. One begins to wonder how does going to court become a treasonable offense or an act of insurrection?
“This unfortunate statement which in all ramification is a hate speech aimed to cause insurrection and war among the Nigerian people by Lai Mohammed should be properly investigated by the United States Government which we know has all the resources to ascertain the truth. Lai Mohammed has committed an international crime in Washington DC and should be arrested immediately and properly investigated and probed.
“We call on the United States and the international community to take note that the statement by the Nigerian Minister of Information Lai Mohammed who is currently in Washington DC against the Labour Party, LP, Presidential candidate and his running mate Senator Datti Ahmed wherein he accused them of insurrection and committing treasonable offense is false and a hate speech.”
COSEYL raised the alarm that the Federal Government might have been planning to frame up Obi with the unsubstantiated allegations.
“We urge the international community to dig deep into the statement and unravel the truth. The statement of Lai Mohammed in Washington DC is a smokescreen of an evil plot by the Federal Government of Nigeria against Nigerians and the Labour Party, LP, Presidential Candidate and his running mate aimed at silencing them to abandon the mandate freely given to them by Nigerians.”
