Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, has denied the authenticity of a viral audio featuring him and David Oyedepo, the founder of Winners Chapel.
In a post on his official Twitter handle, Obi stated that he never said, implied or even thought that the 2023 election was a religious war.
He thanked Nigerians, especially the youth and the "Obidients," for remaining focused on the core mission of creating a new Nigeria, and announced that his legal team would take appropriate legal action on the matter.
The LP candidate insisted that the audio call being circulated is fake, and he instructed his legal team to take appropriate legal actions against Peoples Gazette and others.
Obi reiterated that he repeatedly stated that no one should vote for him 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.
He condemned attempts by the APC-led government and some government officials and agencies to divert attention from their allegedly stolen mandate through malicious accusations, fake doctored audio calls, and pressure on him to leave the country.
He emphasized that they are pursuing all lawful and peaceful options to retrieve their stolen mandate in line with the legal system and constitution.
Obi implored all Nigerians to remain peaceful and law-abiding, and to focus on addressing the litany of challenges facing the country, such as flawed electoral processes, a parlous economy, unsustainable debt burden, lamentable unemployment and inflation, insecurity, and multi-dimensional poverty.
Recall that in an audio clip that was circulating the internet recently, a voice similar to that of Obi can be heard asking Oyedepo 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."
There have been conflicting statements regarding the authenticity of the tape from the LP. The LP campaign council said the audio was a deep fake and accused the APC of trying to demarket Obi.
However, Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesperson of the LP campaign, however, said the clip was authentic.
Okonkwo said “political criminals are trying to spin the conversation as if the LP candidate was making a religious comment” instead of seeing that “Obi 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”.
