Abuja – Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday said contrary to insinuations that the mass defection of All Progressives Congress, APC, members to the opposition would feature prominently in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, no such thing came up for deliberation at the meeting.

Recall that 15 senators and 37 members of the House of Representatives defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday, prompting diverse reactions from Nigerians.

According to Mohammed, the President had already responded on the development and his position was agreeable to those of them in the party.

He said, “No, it was not discussed at FEC and secondly Mr President has already given our position which is that this is a democracy, people are free to make choices.”

On the rift between the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, the minister assured that it would be resolved.

Mohammed was answering questions from State House Correspondents at the end of the Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Oshiomhole and Ngige have been at loggerheads over the minister’s failure to inaugurate the board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, with the APC chairman threatening to expel Ngige from the party and ensuring his exit from the federal cabinet.

“What happened between the minister and party chairman will be resolved,” he said.

Mohammed also said it was difficult for him to comment further on the rift because of the need to confirm the authenticity of statements credited to the two parties.

According to him, “Two weeks ago, we inaugurated a campaign against fake news and that is one of the most dangerous phenomena we have today.

“We don’t know who said what and until we know and the ministers confirmed these statements credited to them, it is a difficult time to comment.

“I can assure you that if there is any problem between the Party Chairman and any of our ministers, it will be resolved.”

Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who spoke on fake news, denied some statements credited to him in the social media alleging that he attacked the National Chairman of the party.

He said, “I saw on social media this afternoon where they said I said the chairman is a bad luck.

“I never said so. I have never said such a thing. They quoted me that I was attacking the chairman,” Amaechi said.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44