Obi should clarify position regarding leaked audio – FG

THE Federal Government has challenged Labour Party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi to explain his position regarding a leaked audio recording of a conversation he allegedly had with Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, said in a statement to the media yesterday in London that Obi should clarify his claim that the leaked conversation was “a fake doctored audio call.”

“I need to draw the attention of Nigerians to the recent leaked audio of conversation between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the cleric.

“The leaked audio rattled Nigerians because we heard Obi pleading with the cleric to interfere on his behalf to convince Christians that this is a religious war and they should support him,” he said.

The minister said that in the aftermath of the leaked audio, Obi came out to say that it was “a fake, doctored audio call.”

The minister said, “If it is fake, it means it never took place. But if it is doctored, it means there was that conversation but it was manipulated.

“Obi needs to come out and make the clarification on whether the conversation did not take place or it took place, but it was doctored.

“If it was doctored, which part of it was doctored?

“Is it the beginning, the middle or the end or is it the ‘Yes Daddy’ part of it, or where he said it was a religious war?”

Mohammed asserted that the audio leak supported the claim that Obi’s election campaign was based on race and religion.

He added that this was the first election in Nigerian history where a politician would openly use race and religion as campaign issues.

“From the outcome of the presidential elections, you will see that Obi got his vote mostly from areas where he comes from and his religious leaning.

“This is not good for the politics of Nigeria and it is very dangerous.

“As a result of this kind of campaign, Nigeria is more divided than ever and people are being heard commenting either based on their religious position or ethnic origin.

“Many otherwise respected commentators are not left behind on the effect of this divisive politics,” he said.

The audio clip as released by an online newspaper was an alleged conversation between Obi and the founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo.

Speaking on his mission to London, the minister said it was there to defend the legitimacy of the just concluded general elections and to correct the imbalance in the skewed narrative which had pervaded the air on the polls.

He added that he would inform the world, as he recently did in Washington, that the 2023 election would be the most free in Nigerian history.

According to NAN, the minister is scheduled to speak with and meet with relevant think tanks based in London and international media organizations.