Why Tinubu’s victory took foreign commentators by surprise

Many foreign commentators were surprised by the outcome of the 2023 Nigerian Presidential election due to their wrong mindset before the polls, the Federal Government has said.

Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, disclosed this in London during his meeting with some international media organisations and Think Tanks.

Mohammed is in London to defend the legitimacy of the 2023 presidential poll and correct certain narratives regarding the elections.

He said some of the commentators had the wrong mindset that the Labour Party (LP) and its Presidential flagbearer, Peter Obi, would win the election.

“In the course of my interactions, particularly with the Economist, I referred them to an earlier article they wrote, in which they rated the Labour Party Presidential candidate as the front runner in the polls,” Mohammed said.

“I explained to them that there was no way a presidential candidate who has no political spread and a grassroots base could win an election in Nigeria.

“For instance, not only that the candidate must have the plurality of votes, he must also have one-quarter of the total vote cast in at least twenty-five states of the federation.

“When you look at the results, only the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, met these requirements,” he added.

“Obi came far behind with 25 percent in fifteen states. This means that Obi, who was wrongly adjudged as a front runner in the election, was virtually unknown and unpopular in twenty-two states,” he said.

Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, is expected to be sworn in as Nigeria’s next new president on May 29.