Lying is the act of both knowingly and intentionally or willfully making a false statement.

“Pathological lying (also called pseudologia fantasia and mythomania) is a behavior of habitual or compulsive lying.” __wikipedia

Sometime last year, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture explained why most Nigerians perceive him to be a political liar.

“I think I carried two major burdens.” He said. “The first burden I carried is that I was the face of opposition for almost a decade and I think quite a big section of the internet has not forgiven me for the role I played in the coming of this government.

“Many of them hold me personally responsible for the defeat of the PDP. I am flattered by that but the truth of that.

“It was Nigerians that wanted a new government and I was just one of the instruments.

“I have always asked anybody to come out and say Alhaji Lai Mohammed, this is what you said at this point and we found it to be a lie and nobody so far has come out to say anything.

“You can fault me on emotions but you can never fault me on facts and figures.”

Let me quickly point out the fact that Nigerians willingly voted for Buhari, he won because Nigerians thought he was the right man for the job, because of his presumed antecedents, and not because of Alhaji Lai’s lies.

One of the characteristics of a pathological liar is the tendency to tell stories that present them as the hero or the victim.

Lai Mohammed speaking on Federal Government’s refusal to release El Zazacky despite the court order to do so implied they can’t give out details of where he is being kept for obvious security reasons and claimed that the government spends about N3.5 million naira to feed the Shiite cleric monthly.

He was interjected by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who jokingly said “then you people need to take me in o”

The Information Minister quickly added, “Honestly, don’t quote me, but these are the facts.” He stated he got the information from those responsible.

“So please. We don’t want to inflame passion. The issue is a very sensitive matter.” But that is the situation. The Islamic Movement of Nigeria are a different kettle of fish,” he said.

At a time when the government is finding it difficult to pay N30,000 minimum wage, N115, 000 is spent daily to feed someone whom the court of law has set free.