The federal government has stated that foreign commentators were taken aback by Bola Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.

In his interaction with international media organisations and Think Tanks in London, the Minister of Culture and Information, Lai Mohammed said that foreign commentators had the wrong mindset that the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, would win the election.

Mohammed’s words were in defence of the legitimacy of the 2023 poll amid continued criticisms and controversies.

“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.

“Obi came far behind with 25 per cent 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 stated.