Mr Peter Obi, the Labour Party Presidential candidate has said that in the past few days, he had  observed various campaigns of calumny directed at his person, with the latest being allegations attributed to the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed from Washington DC.

In a statement, he said: “It is most unfortunate that these consistent efforts to portray me quite contrary to what I am, and my core values, is coming from such high quarters. Minister Lai accusing me of stoking insurrection is totally malicious and fictitious.

I have never discussed or encouraged anyone to undermine the Nigerian state; I have never sponsored or preached any action against the Nigerian state. Those initiating these actions have increasingly used their official positions and agents to make false allegations against me.

I am on record as always advocating for peace and issue-based campaign and never campaigned based on ethnicity or religion. I am committed to due process, and presently seeking redress in the Court.

I urge those engaged in this demarketing process to stop presenting Nigeria in such bad light. Our future generations deserve a new Nigeria, where they can live a secure and decent life like their counterparts in other climes. It is possible.”

Alhai Lai Mohammed, during his interactions with the media organisations, argued that it was wrong for Mr Obi “on one breadth to seek redress in court over the outcome of the polls and on another breadth incite people to violence.

“Obi and his Vice, Datti-Ahmed cannot be threatening Nigerians that if the President-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is sworn in on May 29, it will be the end of democracy in Nigeria.

“This is treason. You cannot be inviting insurrection, and this is what they are doing.

“Obi’s statement is that of a desperate person, he is not a democrat that he claimed to be.

“A democrat should not believe in democracy only when he wins election,” he said.

“The constitution has stringent criteria for anybody who wants to be president of the country.

“Not only must he have the plurality of votes cast in an election, he must also have scored one-quarter of votes cast in at least 25 states.

“Only the president-elect met the criteria by scoring 8.79 million votes and having one-quarter of all the vote cast in 29 states of the federation,” he said.

While Atiku came second with 6.9 million votes but was only able to make one-quarter of the votes cast in 21 states, Mohammed said Mr Obi came third with 5.8 million votes but won only one-quarter of the votes cast in 15 states.

“You cannot win an election in a poll where you came a distant third position and failed to meet constitutional requirements.

“Peter Obi, while complaining of fraud, has not disowned his victory in Lagos,” he said.

To challenge the results of the 25 February presidential election, Obi and Atiku are in court already.