Strategic communication, discipline key to opposition 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 unseated a ruling party in 2015.
​The former Minister spoke at Abbey College, Cambridge, UK, on Wednesday, as detailed in a statement issued by Nnamdi Atupulazi, the Head of Strategic Communications at the Lai Mohammed Media Office.
​Mohammed traced the roots of this transformation to the aftermath of Nigeria’s 2003 general elections, which he described as a “political tsunami” for the opposition.
​“When Nigeria returned to democratic governance in 1999, the number of states controlled by the three major parties was fairly balanced.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 21 states, the main opposition All Peoples Party (APP) secured nine, while the Alliance for Democracy (AD)—my party at the time—won six,” he stated.
He explained that by 2003, the PDP had expanded to 28 states, leaving the AD with only one state, Lagos.
According to him:”This loss of structure and influence compelled the AD to seek new alliances, leading 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 its limited territorial control at the time, Mohammed said the ACN leveraged communication to remain the country’s most vocal opposition force.
He said:​“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.”
“​Through disciplined messaging and relentless advocacy, the ACN expanded from one state to six. This growth provided the leverage needed to forge the 2013 alliance with other parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The APC subsequently defeated the PDP in 2015, marking the first time in Nigerian history that an incumbent ruling party was unseated at the national level,” he stated.
​​Reflecting on his eight-year tenure as the Minister of Information and Culture (2015–2023), Alhaji Mohammed stated that his experience in the opposition profoundly shaped his approach to government.
​“It reinforced my belief that communication is not an accessory to politics or governance; it is a core instrument of both,” he emphasized.
​The former Minister is currently on a speaking tour of the United Kingdom to engage audiences on leadership and public communication.
The tour is anchored on his new book, Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined an Administration, which chronicles his time as Nigeria’s government spokesman.
​His itinerary includes speaking at the Leadership Speaker Series of the Cambridge International Education Conference at St John’s College on Thursday, followed by an engagement at the London School of Economics later that same day.