Lai Mohammed’s Exit Is A Huge Challenge For APC

Editor’s note: Lai Mohammed, the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was cleared as ministerial nominee on October 13,so he will leave his current position. Iheanacho Nwosu, the reporter of the Sun newspaper, shares his views on why the exit of is the huge challenge for his party.

Saraki and other APC sena­tors accorded Lai Mohammed the honour he deserves

Outgoing national public­ity secretary of the All Progres­sives Congress (APC) Alhaji Lai Mohammed got an unusual gift from the Senate last Tuesday. Cer­tainly he would be surprised that his screening by the Senate was devoid of heat.
This was outside the expecta­tion of many. Prior to his being ushered into the chamber, it was thought that the lawmakers especially those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stock would pummel him with questions. But that was not to be. Instead he was asked to bow and go. However, the reason for Moham­med’s smooth sail is fathomable. It was made so by APC senators. A member of the party put it this way “the Senate president, Bukola Saraki and other APC sena­tors accorded Lai Mohammed the honour he deserves. I was pleased that our senators ensured that he had it easy at the screening”.

Virtually every member of the APC national working committee accompanied Mohammed to the chamber. In fact the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun ensured that his presence was felt by the Senators as he joked and laughed with those around him during the exercise.
That APC leadership is happy that the party’s spokesman is among the ministerial nominees and that he scaled the senate’s is not doubt, what is confusing is whether the party is at home with the implication of Mohammed’s impending exit as the spokesman of the party.

Mohammed is one of the most popular politicians in Nigeria

Though the opposition may not publicly utter it, there are signs that it is happy that Lai is leaving his current position as the spokesman of APC. Hate or like him, Mohammed has discharged his assignment in a manner that nobody could ignore him. And that is why he is unarguably one of the most popular politicians in the country today. For some, his popularity is anchored on his capacity to flawlessly dish out propaganda and half-truths in the defense of his party’s policies and decisions. There are those who as­sociate his name with controversy. Lai is aware that such names are pinned on him. But they do not distract him.
Mohammed did not become APC spokesman by accident. His works at the defunct Action Con­gress of Nigeria (ACN) handed him the office. Then an opposition party, Mohammed forced many Nigerians to follow the activi­ties of ACN. Then leadership of PDP could not find an answer to him. This is how the former PDP national publicity secretary, Prof Ahmed Alkali described him “Lai Mohammed is good in propagan­da. He uses lies to confuse Nigeria. He issues hundreds of statements in a day. That is a sign that he is idle. I cannot do that because I am busy.”

Mohammed puts the government of President Bu­hari on its toes

Alkali, for sure, was trying to invent reasons for being unable to match Mohammed in the manage­ment of the publicity needs of his party. Till date many still believe that one of the problems of PDP is that its inability to recruit the right person to man its publicity office.
“We need to have a publicity secretary that is proactive, some­body who can match Lai Moham­med in his antics,” Dr Joshua Ikem, a PDP chieftain said.
The current national publicity secretary of PDP Olisa Metuh, has, arguably, adopted Mohammed’s style in many ways. He has been proactive, criticizing and putting the government of President Bu­hari on its toes.

At the beginning of the ad­ministration, Metuh was not as flawless as he seems to be right now in putting the APC govern­ment on its toes. Based on that Mohammed derisively asked him to come for training. “Metuh will need the training to effectively carry out his new, tough task. It is now obvious that he needs to un­derstand that for him to succeed in his new role, he must be credible, empirical, more sophisticated in language use and very passionate, in addition to being able to oper­ate on a lean or zero budget,” he admonished in a statement.

Can APC cope in the absence of Mohammed in its media and public communi­cations?

Now, the question is, can APC cope in the absence of Mohammed in its media and public communi­cations? Who can fit into the big shoes that Mohammed would leave behind?
These are questions ruling the lips of many people includ­ing non APC members. APC needs somebody in the mould of Mohammed at this time. It is cur­rently faced with some challenges. There are crevices and cracks in its fold occasioned by the outcome of the June 9 National Assembly leadership elections. Some leaders are yet to put the incident behind them.

Apart from that, the ongoing prosecution of the senate president by the Code of Conduct Tribunal has also polarized the party . This has led to some analysts predicting that the party may implode sooner than later. Mohammed has been managing crisis adroitly in the public space . Yes, he has a deputy, but how far can he go in manag­ing the crisis in the public more so as he is considered by some as a controversial figure ? Next few months will tell.