Confusion in Obi’s camp over leaked election phone call

The camp of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, was yesterday thrown into confusion following a leaked audio conversation between Obi and the general overseer of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo.

While Obi’s media aide,  Mr. Val Obienyem, dismissed the leaked audio as fake and a clandestine plot to get him blackmailed, so that he would be charged to court for treasonable offences, Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesperson of the LP campaign admitted that there was, indeed, a conversation between the two.

Obienyem, revealed that a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC),  who is an indigene of Anambra State but based in Lagos, is heading a team set up to find a way of getting Obi indicted with treasonable charges.

He stated that the team, which also has some personnel of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), is currently reviewing all calls made by the LP presidential candidate in the last three years, and especially recently to see if he (Obi) mentioned “interim government or anything that will make them prosecute him for treason when and if they (Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his APC) take over (government)”.

In a statement titled, “Obi versus Oyedepo: Too bad,” Obienyem said, “I heard they set up a committee made up of some people from the Nigerian Communications Commission, headed by our prodigal brother from Nnewi.

“They (Tinubu and his supporters in APC) are reviewing all calls Obi made in the last three years, and especially now, to see if he mentioned interim government or anything that will make them prosecute him for treason when, and if,  they take over. Till now, they are yet to see any.

“The badly doctored conservation with Bishop Oyedepo released by our Nnewi prodigal brother is the most they have discovered so far. They edited out the Muslim-Muslim ticket that led to the discussion, where Obi said that in a society like ours, religious balancing was a necessary consideration and that their recklessness had made Christians to assume it was a religious war.”

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Meanwhile, Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesperson of the LP campaign, in a series of posts on his official Twitter handle said “political criminals are trying to spin the conversation as if the LP candidate was making a religious comment.

“Our attention has been drawn to the publication of this audio tape of private conversation between @PeterObi and Bishop Oyedepo. It is not surprising that these political criminals are trying to spin the conversation as if Obi was making a religious statement,” Okonkwo said.

“Firstly, the context of the conversation was aptly put by Bishop Oyedepo when he said ‘All Nigerians have equal stake in this nation, nobody has the right to claim that he is dashing something to someone’.

“H E @PeterObi was simply urging the Bishop to help him push this message of equal stake of all Nigerians in the Nigerian project to his people and the Christendom because the politicians of the other party are carrying on this campaign as if it is a religious war.

“To drive home this point, he informed him that he visited the traditional ruler of Offa, the Olofa of Offa, who is a Muslim, but who advised Obi to get the support of Oyedepo and be assured of his own support. No politician has ever visited the Olofa of Offa.”

According to Okonkwo, it is the ruling party that has declared religious war on Nigerians. He added that Nigerians “must all rise up together to fight this unconstitutional act of religious intolerance of other religions by APC.

“I went around with Obi on campaign train and never saw him discriminate against any religion. Of course he can’t because his Vice is a Muslim unlike APC.

“I resigned from APC because of their religious intolerance. Nigerians should disregard any insinuation of religious bigots about this tap.”

Fake Audio To Cause Religious Tension Won’t Save You, LP Tells APC

The Labour Party (LP) has said that the fake video of a conversation between their presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the General Overseer of the Living Faith, Bishop David Oyedepo, is meant to cause religious tension, adding that it will not save the All Progressives Congress (APC) from drowning.

According to the Labour Party, the APC’s endless subterfuge must stop.

A statement issued by the head, Obi-Datti Media, Diran Onifade, said it appears the APC’s desperation to grab and retain power by foul means has refused to go away more than a month after it grabbed the election as planned.

“While we are toeing the constitutional path to retrieve our mandate, those who have truncated the wishes of the majority of Nigerians have resorted to mischief and endless subterfuge to continue to hold on to what they know does not belong to them.

“From the show of shame in Port Harcourt to the drama in the Ibom Air aircraft, both of which they contrived, they have now moved to the circulation of a deep fake audio file aimed at promoting religious tension in the country.

“All these are meant to serve no other purpose than egregious mischief aimed at de-marketing Peter Obi.  If the goal is to create a credibility problem, the ploy has failed woefully. Peter Obi has long been on record as the only presidential candidate who has urged the Nigerians electorate not to vote for him on the basis of religion or tribe, “the Labour Party said.

“We will therefore like to advise our beloved Nigerian people to remain focused on the task to take back the mandate we know was freely given to Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed through legitimate means.

“That is more important than to expect those who ran elections on forged credentials and even fake bishops to stop faking. They cannot stop being fraudulent because that is who they are, “the Labour Party added.

Obi Will Never Be President – Keyamo

In his reaction, spokesman of the APC presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo, said the leaked telephone conversation of Obi and Oyedepo has ended the Labour Party candidate’s dream to be Nigeria’s president one day.

He also said God exposed Obi through the leaked conversation.

Keyamo who stated this on his twitter handle said, “Having confirmed the authenticity of what is now known as the Peter Obi ‘Yes-daddy’ audio, I think the real culprit here are the so-called ‘men of God’ who allowed themselves to be used by an unscrupulous politician to seek to inflame religious passions in our dear country in the name of politics. So, when they were telling their hapless adherents that they heard the voice of the Lord, it was actually Peter Obi’s telephone calls they heard and not God’s voice. This is deceitful, shameful and disgusting.

“Imagine a so-called ‘man of God’ comparing notes with a politician as to what he said or what he would say on the pulpit in order to get him votes. I hope this sufficiently embarrasses the ‘men of God’ in Nigeria to forthwith desist from using the pulpit for politics and the Church-goers to stop being teleguided by their self-serving ‘men of God’.

“As for Peter Obi who declared an election a ‘religious war’ in a multi-religious and multi-ethnic country like ours, the real God has just exposed him and his dream to be Nigeria’s president one day has just died a natural death,” he said.

I Never Campaigned For Any Politician – Oyedepo

On his part, the Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide (a.k.a. Winners’ Chapel International), David Oyedepo,  has reacted to the controversial audio tape alleged to have been a phone conversation between him and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, saying he only advises and prays for politicians who come to him.

The clergyman, who stated this while preaching yesterday at the church’s headquarters in Ogun State, said he had never campaigned for any politician during any election in the country.

An online news outlet has released an audio clip where Obi was heard telling the Bishop to help solicit votes from Christians in the South-West and Northern part of the country so that he can win the just-concluded 2023 presidential election.

In the audio that has gone viral on social media, Obi allegedly said the votes were needed because the 2023 presidential election was a religious war.

The LP presidential candidate allegedly said, “Daddy, I need you to speak to your people in the South-West and Kwara, the Christians in the South-West and Kwara. This is a religious war. Like I keep saying: if this works, you people will never regret the support.”

But reacting to the controversial audio clip, Oyedepo said he never spoke to any group of people on behalf of any politician.

“Nobody had ever told me what to say in this world. No. I have never campaigned for anybody or speak on anybody’s behalf and I will not do that till I go to heaven.

“There is no (political) party in this country that didn’t come to me for prayers and advice. I advised them, some, they didn’t take. Those who chose to take it, they see results; those who said no, they are going about it. If you still come again, I will still tell you, it doesn’t change,” he stated.