Once again, Lai Mohammed, the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, is out with another banger, not a hit single to say the least, but some controversial statements he’s been known to deliver for the past seven years.
Just lately, the Information Minister dropped a bomb while addressing security matters in the country, he spoke unrealistically about the safety of Nigerians, especially since the All Progressives Congress, APC-led administration took over power in 2015.
What surprises Nigerians the most is the confidence, the effrontery, and the guts Lai Mohammed expresses when misinforming citizens about the state of some issues in the country.
Statements Lai Mohammed Shook Nigeria With 2021/2022
- The Information Minister recently declared that President Muhammadu Buhari’s entry in 2015 made Nigeria witness an administration that has provided an improved security experience.
- Reports in December 2021 revealed how the Minister also praised his Boss, saying that without the firm leadership of Buhari in tackling security challenges, Nigeria would have been Islamised.
- To date, he blames the spate of insecurity on the previous administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that it was the APC-led Government that succeeded in making Nigeria a safer haven and has even attracted foreign investment in the line of tourism and business ventures.
- Lai Mohammed, in the same year, made a comment pointing fingers at the opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Nigerian Elites for fuelling the insecurity problems and claiming that the President has so far led the worse regime in the country.
- In 2022, a few hours ago, he claimed that the one thousand and six hundred (1,600) repentant terrorists are now very useful in Nigerian society. The question that Nigerians have been asking, is how the Government continues to pardon bandits that have claimed numerous lives while they were active in the terror business?
- In 2021, bandits killed over three thousand (3,000+) citizens, yet the first thing that came out of the Minister’s mouth was that President Muhammadu Buhari made “Tremendous Progress” in dealing with the security challenges the nation faced.
- Also, with the level of hunger in the land, job losses, and abject poverty APC subjected Nigerians to, LaiMohammed boldly commented that the country was witnessing flourishing economic growth, further tagging Buhari’s performance in the same year as a “Major Achievement”. These statements at the time-triggered various reactions, particularly from members of the opposition party who termed their criticism of the APC government as a “Celebration of Falsehood”.
- On tourism, the Minister has praised Nigeria because its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, is recognisable. On the contrary, the group known as the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria, FTAN, has expressed their disappointment with the Minister and the Ministry for spreading such lies in the public domain. FTAN which is the umbrella body for private operators in tourism, travel and hospitality, respectively, insisted that the Honourable Minister had failed to promote tourism in Nigeria for the past seven years, yet, preparing to host the World Tourism Organization, a United Nations, UN specialized agency, saddled with the duty to promote responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism, globally. The group has promised to boycott what the Government calls the First World Conference On Cultural Tourism And Creative Industry billed to happen between November 14 and 17, 2022, at the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.
- Again in 2021, the Information and Culture Minister turned the EndSARS Investigative Report conducted by a committee set up by the Lagos State Government into a joke, further attributing it to the old popular drama, ‘Tale by Moonlight, adding that there were no killings/massacres as the Lagos Investigative Panel claimed. His statement angered many Nigerians, and groups, including the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, which called for the immediate sack of the Minister for telling lies to the world and even asked the Cable News Network, CNN, to retract their earlier reports on the Lekki Tollgate Massacre and apologise to the Nigerian Government.
- We can’t forget his ‘Fake News’ campaign launched to curb any negative reports about the present administration. When recorded videos that served as evidence were presented to back an investigation into the #EndSARS campaign and killings, the Minister would simply discard the evidence with a wave of his hand and his most famous phrase- ‘Fake News.’ For his actions, an activist like Reno Omokri posted on his Twitter handle, saying, “Lai Mohammed, the man who told Nigerians that President Buhari’s achievements have ‘exceeded his promises today launched ‘A National Campaign Against Fake News. This is like satan opening a church. Lai Mohammed and fake news are 5 and 6. They are Siamese twins!”
If you have any famous lies told by the Minister of Information and Culture, do not hesitate to inform us just in case any of his famous unbelievable quotes is missing from the list above.