Leaked audio: Clarify position, FG tells Peter Obi

The Federal Government has pressed Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi to explain his position about a leaked audio recording of a conversation he purportedly 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 on Monday in London that Obi should clarify his claim that the leaked discussion was “a fake doctored audio call.”

“I must alert Nigerians to the recently released audio recording of a conversation between the cleric and Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate.

Nigerians were alarmed by the audio that had been leaked because they could hear Obi appealing with the cleric to intervene on his behalf and persuade Christians that this is a theological conflict and that they should back him.

The minister claimed that once the audio was published, Obi declared it to be “a fake, doctored audio call.”

“If it is fake, it means it never happened,” the minister stated. However, if it has been doctored, it suggests that although the discussion did occur, it was altered.

“Obi needs to speak up and clarify if the conversation actually happened or whether it did but was doctored.

Which particular aspect of it, if any, was altered?

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

Mohammed claimed that the audio recording had supported the claim that Obi’s electioneering was motivated by race and religion.

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

You can tell by the results of the presidential election that Obi’s support came primarily from the neighborhoods where he was raised and from people who shared his religious beliefs.

“This is extremely hazardous and bad for Nigerian politics.

Nigeria is now more divided than ever as a result of this type of advertising, and people are heard making comments based on their ethnicity or religious beliefs.

The impact of this divided politics is not lost on many other respectable critics, he claimed.

The audio tape, which was made public by an online site, purported to be a conversation between Bishop David Oyedepo, the man who started the Living Faith Church Worldwide, and Obi.

Defending the legitimacy of the recently held general elections and redressing the imbalance in the distorted narrative that had permeated the air on the polls were the minister’s stated goals while describing his mission to London.

He declared 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 slated to speak with and meet with relevant think tanks based in London and international media organizations.