The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the general overseer of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo, were involved in a leaked audio conversation, throwing the LP camp into confusion. Obi’s media aide dismissed the audio as fake, while a spokesperson of the LP campaign admitted that there was indeed a conversation between the two.
The leaked audio has created controversy and confusion, with some accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting to blackmail Obi and charge him with treasonable offenses. According to Obi’s media aide, a chieftain of the 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. The team is reviewing all calls made by the LP presidential candidate in the last three years to see if he 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)”.
The leaked audio conversation between Obi and Bishop Oyedepo has been doctored, according to Obi’s media aide, who said that the conversation had been edited to remove the context. Obi had discussed the need for religious balancing in a society like Nigeria, where religious tensions are high. He had urged the Bishop to help him push the message of equal stake of all Nigerians in the Nigerian project to his people and the Christendom.
Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesperson of the LP campaign, said that political criminals were trying to spin the conversation as if the LP candidate was making a religious comment. He stated that the context of the conversation was about the need for equal stake of all Nigerians in the Nigerian project, and not a religious war. Okonkwo added that it was the ruling party that has declared religious war on Nigerians.
In conclusion, the leaked audio conversation between Peter Obi and Bishop David Oyedepo has created confusion in the Labour Party camp, with some accusing the APC of plotting to blackmail Obi and charge him with treasonable offenses. The conversation has been doctored to remove the context, which was about the need for equal stake of all Nigerians in the Nigerian project. Nigerians are urged to disregard any insinuation of religious bigots about this tap.
