Alhaji Lai Mohammed, immediate past Minister of Information and Culture, has revealed how he helped the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to secure victory in the 2023 presidential election.
Lai Mohammed made this disclosure in his recently launched book titled, “Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments that Defined an Administration”.
New Telegraph reports that the book chronicled his experiences as a Minister under the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Speaking on his role in the 2023 Presidential election, Alhaji Mohammed said prior to the 2023 election, Buhari had refrained ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of government agencies to abstain from abandoning their primary assignments for political campaigns.
Late Buhari, who gave the instructions at the end of a two-day 2022 Ministerial Performance Review Retreat in Abuja, sound a note of warning that any infraction of the order would attract sanctions.
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The former minister, however shared that, without prejudice to the presidential directive, he used campaign strategies, not through rallies or rhetoric, but by standing on the truth, documenting performance, and ensuring that history was not overwhelmed by propaganda.
Mohammed recalled that they were prevailing narrative within the opposition that the APC-led Buhari administration had failed to achieve anything substantial, and thus , nothing warrants the party’s return to power.
He stated that the opposition politicians actively exaggerated the claim, clearly part of orchestrated campaign, that the ruling APC had no achievements to campaign on.
Mohammed said the assertion, was neither factual nor grounded in reality, but a deliberate strategy to discredit the administration and by extension, the APC and Tinubu ahead of the polls.
“As the popular aphorism goes “Say it loud, say it often, and it longer matters if it’s true”
“Fully aware of the insidious nature of this campaign, I adopted a two pronged strategy: To systematically showcase the administration’s achievements and to decisively counter the opposition misleading narrative.
“Exactly 130 days to the general elections, precisely on Oct 18, 2023, my ministry launched the groundbreaking PMB Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023).
“The goal was to present verified accomplishments of the Buhari administration and shape public perception during a politically-critical period.
“Under the programme, ministers presented concrete, evidence-based reports on their respective sectors.
“Each session includes a robust question and answer segment during which journalists critically interrogated the presentations and sought clarifications,” he wrote.
To keep the campaign trail visible, Mohammed said he deployed a comprehensive multi-platform communication strategy leveraging traditional and digital platforms.
The former minister also recalled that on Feb. 22, 2023, just three days before the elections, his ministry unveiled the final set of legacy documentation tools.
The tools, according to him are; a documentary, testimony series, a compendium of PMB Achievements in both print and e-copy and a legacy portal.
The former minister said the legacy portal was a digital repository, accessible from anywhere in the world, which contained all the presentations at the scorecard series.
“The scorecard series was undoubtedly one of the most innovative and impactful electioneering campaign strategies in Nigeria’s recent political history.
“It provides Nigerians, ahead of the elections, with direct unfettered access to the achievements of the outgoing administration.
“It offered detailed, ministry-by-ministry presentations and highlighted concrete policy achievements, infrastructural developments and sectoral reforms.
“By doing so, it not only set the tone for the constructive political discourse, but also powerfully reinforced the ruling party’s campaign message across the length and breadth of the country,” he said.
Mohammed further added that: “Apart from disseminating information, the innovation of the Scorecard Series also shifted the dynamics of the political campaign itself.
“By placing verifiable facts and government achievements directly in the hands of the citizens, it compelled the opposition to constantly play catch-up”.
Mohammed said the strategies ended the oppositions’ unfounded narrative around failures or unfulfilled promises.
He said, with the strategies, the opposition parties found themselves in the defensive throughout the campaign season, mostly dwelling on “ad hominem” argument”.
Mohammed stressed that the success of the strategy lay in its subtlety and strict adherence to facts rather than overt political grandstanding.
He maintained that by anchoring the campaign on documented performance and verifiable records, the APC was able to reconnect with undecided voters and neutralise what he described as deliberate misinformation.
Mohammed said the approach renewed the power of strategic communication in driving electoral outcomes without breaching institutional responsibilities.
