Nigeria's Info Minister Said Voters Only Interested in Freebies From Politicians? No Evidence for Quote

11 January 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Catherine Adeniyi

IN SHORT: A quote that has information minister Lai Mohammed saying Nigerian voters are only interested in handouts, and not in the governing party's record, is false.

A quote circulating on Facebook has Nigeria's information minister Lai Mohammed saying the country's people are only looking for "stomach infrastructure".

The posts read: "We have given Nigerians infrastructure and they are looking for stomach infrastructure, we can not afford that - Lai Mohammed."

Mohammed is a minister under the governing All Progressives Congress, which is hoping to be re-elected based on its time in office since 2015.

"Stomach infrastructure" is local slang for politicians attracting votes by giving out money and food during election seasons.

Nigeria's 2023 general elections are slated for February and March.

But did Mohammed really insult Nigerians in this way? We checked.

The quote can't be found

None of the posts give details about when and where the minister made the statement. This lack of detail about controversial statements is often a red flag.

We scoured the information ministry's website and social media pages looking for the quote and came up empty.

And no credible Nigerian news outlets have reported it.

With the elections only a few weeks away, many false statements are being attributed to key political figures. This could harm people's ability to make informed choices during the vote.

Read our analysis of this disinformation trend - and nine others - in the country ahead of the elections.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

Tagged:
Copyright © 2023 Africa Check. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.