Former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has disclosed how a fellow cabinet member allegedly undermined him during a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mohammed made the revelation in his newly launched book, Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments that Defined an Administration, where he chronicled key experiences from his years in Buhari’s cabinet.
According to the former minister, the unnamed colleague, whom he described as hailing from the South-West, criticised his performance at a FEC meeting, accusing him of incompetence despite knowing that he was not in attendance.
At the time, Mohammed said he was in Washington, D.C., for the administration’s biannual engagements with international media organisations and think tanks.
“I later learnt that a minister from the South-West complained that although the administration was doing well, the minister of information was not doing enough to project its achievements,” he wrote.
However, Mohammed said the criticism was immediately shut down by President Buhari, who reportedly defended him before the council.
“The President interjected and told the council that I was doing an excellent job. He said he had just watched my television engagements where I was strongly projecting the achievements of the administration from across the Atlantic,” Mohammed recounted.
He described Buhari’s intervention as a strong presidential endorsement, noting that throughout his tenure, the former president consistently defended and encouraged him.
The former minister also narrated how Buhari once dismissed a petition written against him, insisting on due process while expressing personal confidence in his integrity.
“When a petition was forwarded to him, the President reportedly said, ‘Lai? I don’t believe it,’ but still ordered an investigation. The report eventually cleared me,” Mohammed wrote.
Mohammed further recalled a tense moment during the controversy surrounding former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s open letter in January 2018, in which Obasanjo criticised Buhari and urged him not to seek re-election.
He said Buhari initially instructed that no response should be issued out of respect for Obasanjo’s seniority in the military. Despite initial resistance, Mohammed said he convinced the President to allow a measured response in defence of the administration.
After issuing the statement, Mohammed said Buhari later commended him for handling the response with maturity and professionalism, adding that several individuals also praised the effort.
The former minister also shared an account of how Buhari approved a media tour of military-recaptured territories from Boko Haram in 2015, even while the President was outside the country, after last-minute objections were raised by the Defence Ministry.
According to Mohammed, Buhari’s support extended to facilitating funding for key ministry projects through special interventions, despite limited budgetary allocations.
Reflecting on Buhari’s leadership style, Mohammed said what stood out most was the former president’s quiet trust in his appointees.
“When he entrusted someone with responsibility, he gave them the freedom to act, believing that responsibility itself carried wisdom,” Mohammed wrote.