The residential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter obi has said the audio call featuring him and David Oyedepo, the founder of Winners Chapel, is fake.
According to the audio clip, Obi called Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church (Winners’ Chapel) on the eve of the election and implored him to pass messages to Christians across the South-West — and also to those in central states like Kwara, Kogi and Niger.
Obi in the viral clip begged the cleric to speak to the Christians in the south-west and Kwara to vote for him in the presidential poll, describing the election as a “religious war”.
“Daddy, I need you to speak to your people in the South-West and Kwara, the Christians in the South-West and Kwara,” Mr Obi said in the audio obtained by The Gazette. “This is a religious war.”
“I believe that, I believe that, I believe that,” Mr Oyedepo said.
“Like I keep saying: if this works, you people will never regret the support,” Mr Obi said with candour, adding that Christians in places like Kogi, Kwara and Niger have been difficult to penetrate.
“We look forward to God’s intervention,” Mr Oyedepo said, promising to circulate more messages to Christians on Mr Obi’s behalf.
While some Obi supporters described the audio as fake, Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesperson of the LP campaign in a series of post on his twitter handle confirmed it to be authentic.
He however said: “political criminals are trying to spin the conversation as if the LP candidate was making a religious comment”.
But speaking on Wednesday, Obi in a post on Wednesday on his official Twitter handle said “at no time did he ever say, think, or even imply that the 2023 election is, or was a religious war”.
The present attempts by the APC as a Party, and the APC Led-government through some government officials and agencies to divert our attention from our blatantly stolen mandate is unfortunate and sad.
“These have come and continued to manifest in different ways, such as the malicious accusation of the Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, the circulation of a fake doctored audio call, and a pressure on me to leave the country.
“Let me reiterate that the audio call being circulated is fake, and at no time throughout the campaign and now did I ever say, think, or even imply that the 2023 election is, or was a religious war,” Obi said.
Speaking on the February 25 presidential election that he is contesting at the election tribunal, after coming third behind, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Obi said, “Before, during, and after the campaign, it is on record that I have maintained my commitment and focus on issue-based campaign about a New Nigeria that is possible, a shift of emphasis from consumption to production, a New Nigeria characterized by inclusion, justice, equity, fairness, and prosperity.
“I repeatedly stated that no one should vote for me based on tribe or religion, but rather on the assessment of character, competence, capacity, credibility, and compassion that can be trusted to create a New Nigeria!.
“The attempts to manipulate Nigerians is very sad and wicked. Our legal team have been instructed to take appropriate legal actions against Peoples Gazette and others.
“While we call on all concerned Nigerians and the International Community to implore the APC and the APC Led-government to stop their nasty attacks, my focus and commitment to lawfully and peacefully retrieve our mandate to secure and unite our Nation, take Nigeria from consumption to production, pull millions of Nigerians out of multidimensional poverty especially in the North, and jumpstart prosperity through agricultural, industrial, and technological revolution remain unchanged.
Elections are over, and we are in court to retrieve our stolen mandate. Let me reiterate that we are doing so through all lawful and peaceful options in line with our legal system and constitution, and I continue to implore all Nigerians to remain peaceful and law abiding.
“Those fixated with heating up the polity, creating divisions, tensions and hatred within and outside Nigeria should remember that Nigeria is our only country. Our focus should be on how to address the litany of challenges facing us, such as: flawed electoral processes, the parlous state of our economy, unsustainable debt burden, lamentable unemployment and inflation, insecurity, and multi-dimensional poverty. A New Nigeria is indeed POssible, and God will help us,” Obi said.
