Jesus, being perfect and without sin, did not lie. Read in context, and with a much better translation than the NWT, the scripture states:
Then Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.” When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee. But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” (New KJV)
There's nothing mysterious or out of place in this story. Jesus explains that while the apostles could move freely and openly at the feast, he would be noticed. He was, after all, a well known and controversial figure in Jerusalem. "The world cannot hate you," he said, "but it hates me...." Had he gone with them, he would have been noticed. That he didn't want. He wanted to remain inconspicuous and if they knew he was there, they would have naturally gravitated to him. Once they were gone, Jesus decided to go to the feast incommunicado. His hunch was correct, for when the apostles showed up, the Jews fully expected to see Jesus in their midst. "Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, 'Where is He?'"
He did not lie; he merely commanded his apostles to go to the feast without him. His time had not yet fully come, meaning it wasn't the right time for him to die. He knew that a confrontation at the feast had the potential of hastening that time and that the apostles had to have plausible deniability. He ordered them to go there because it wasn't his time and he wanted to avoid trouble until it was his time. So they went up and, sure enough, the Jews wanted to know where he was.
So where's the lie? Everything he said was perfectly true and understandable.
Reading the NWT is kind of a waste of time. It's mediocre at its best and is abysmal at its worst.