Information minister Lai Mohammed has accused Peoples Democratic Party of seeking to deploy information warfare in its quest to return to power next year.

Mr Mohammed warned the main opposition party to desist from its desperation, saying anyone seeking to claim power should do so without first setting the country on fire. 

“There is nothing wrong in having a fiery and viable opposition in a democracy,” Mr Mohammed said at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday. “If you destroy the country you are seeking to govern, what country will you govern?”

Mr Mohammed said when the ruling All Progressives Congress was in opposition, it did not resort to desperate tactics as seen now under the PDP.

“In our time, not once did we advocate the destruction of Nigeria just because we couldn’t have our way,” he said. “Not once did we seek to gain power via a desperate court action.” 

He also said the PDP has been trying to sue the APC over its recent convention, condemning such moves as desperate and undemocratic.

But the minister’s claim, however, appeared to contradict records of his conduct when he was the spokesman of the opposition between mid-2000s and 2015. 

Mr Mohammed was widely known as a purveyor of false information, and several fact-checks of his public statements found him culpable of widely spread dangerous information on economy, security and national unity.

Mr Mohammed became information minister in 2015 following the election of Muhammadu Buhari as president, a position he has maintained ever since. He is expected to be out of office in May 2023 when the administration will conclude its two constitutionally-allowed terms.