Strategic communication, discipline empower opposition to victory in Nigeria – Lai Mohammed

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

Nigeria’s former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has delivered a compelling account of how disciplined, strategic communication transformed a fragmented opposition into a cohesive national movement that defeated the ruling party in 2015.

This was contained in a statement issued by
Head of Strategic Communications
of Lai Mohammed Media Office, Nnamdi Atupulazi.

Speaking at Abbey College, Cambridge, UK, on Wednesday, Alhaji Mohammed traced the roots of that transformation to the aftermath of Nigeria’s 2003 general elections, which he famously described as a “political tsunami.”

“That year, 2003, was the year of a political tsunami in Nigeria, the year the opposition suffered perhaps its worst disaster in the country’s political history,” he said.

”When Nigeria returned to democratic governance in 1999, the number of states controlled by the three major parties after the elections was fairly balanced. The emergent ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 21 states, the main opposition All Peoples Party (APP)secured nine states, while the Alliance for Democracy (AD), which was my party at the time, won six.

‘’Four years later, after the 2003 general elections, disaster struck. PDP gained seven more states to bring its total to 28. Five of those states were taken from my party’ssix, leaving us with only one, Lagos. The APP, which had by then become the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), lost two states but remained the main opposition with seven
states,” he added.

The former Minister explained that the outcome of the election stripped the AD of power, structure and influence, compelling it to seek new alliances. These efforts led to the formation of the Action Congress of Democrats (ACD), which later evolved into the Action Congress (AC) and eventually the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Despite controlling only one state at the time, he said the ACN leveraged the power of communication to emerge as the most vocal opposition force in the country.

“In those days, communication was our greatest weapon. Every word mattered. Every message had to cut through the noise, because if it didn’t, we simply did not exist in the public consciousness,” Alhaji Mohammed noted.

Through sustained public engagement, disciplined messaging and relentless advocacy, the opposition gradually rebuilt public trust and expanded its political footprint. According to him, the ACN grew from one state to six, a development that enabled it to forge alliances with other parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013.

He noted that the APC immediately became the dominant opposition force and went on to defeat the ruling PDP in the 2015 general elections, marking the first time in Nigeria’s history that a ruling party was unseated at the national level.

“That journey taught me that communication is not just about speaking, it is about persistence, clarity and strategic positioning,” the former Minister added.

Reflecting on his time in government, Alhaji Mohammed said his experience in opposition profoundly shaped his approach to governance when his party assumed power in 2015 and he was appointed the Minister of Information and Culture.

“It reinforced my belief that communication is not anaccessory to politics or governance,” he said. “It is a core instrument of both.”

Alhaji Mohammed is currently on a speaking tour of the United Kingdom, where he will be engaging audiences on leadership, governance and public communication, anchored on his new book, Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined an Administration, which chronicles his tenure as Nigeria’s government spokesman from 2015 to 2023.

He is also scheduled to speak at the Leadership Speaker Series of the Cambridge International Education Conference at St John’s College, Cambridge, on Thursday, as well as at the London School of Economics later the same day.