Alhaji Lai Mohammed, a former Minister of Information and Culture, has disclosed how he deployed a two-pronged campaign strategy that helped the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu to win the 2023 elections.
Mohammed disclosed this in his recently inaugurated book, “Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments that Defined an Administration”, which chronicled his experiences as a minister under the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
It would be recalled that ahead of the 2023 elections, Buhari had warned ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of government agencies to refrain from abandoning their primary assignments for political campaigns.
The late president, who gave the directive at the end of a two-day 2022 Ministerial Performance Review Retreat in Abuja, had warned that any infraction of the order would attract sanctions.
Mohammed, however, narrated that, without prejudice to the presidential directive, he deployed campaign strategies, not through rallies or rhetoric, but by defending truth, documenting performance, and ensuring that history was not rewritten by propaganda.
The former minister recalled that ahead of the elections, the prevailing narrative within the opposition was that the APC-led Buhari administration had failed to achieve anything substantial, and thus, nothing warrants the party’s return to power.
He said the opposition figures actively propagated the claim, clearly part of an 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 no 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’s 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 ensure maximum visibility, 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, a testimony series, a compendium of PMB achievements in both print and e-copy and a legacy portal.
Mohammed 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.
The former minister further argued, “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 opposition’s unfounded narrative around failures or unfulfilled promises.
He said, “With the strategies, the opposition parties found themselves on the defensive throughout the campaign season, mostly dwelling on ‘ad hominem’ arguments.”
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.
According to him, the approach reaffirmed the power of strategic communication in shaping electoral outcomes without breaching institutional responsibilities. (NAN)
