Nigeria’s emerging opposition party, Labour Party is in a mess as officials of the party make conflicting claims on the a phone conversation between its Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi and the founder/Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, aka Winners Chapel, David Oyedepo.
In the leaked audio conversation that went viral yesterday, Obi had declared the February 25 Presidential election a ‘religious war’ in Nigeria; a multi-religious and multi-ethnic country.
The party’s hierarchy got enmeshed in the attendant controversy as a veteran broadcaster and Labour Party’s Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson, Diran Onifade, and veteran actor, Kenneth Okonkwo, another spokesperson of the party, sang discordant tunes.
Onifade in his response through a statement in Abuja, on Sunday, dismissed the audio as deep fake and a product of the propaganda machinery of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) a member of the media team, Kenneth Okonkwo, confirmed the authenticity of the audio.
Okonkwo’s statement was issued in a series of tweets on his Twitter handle a few hours after Diran’s statement, however, explained that the audio was taken out of context by Obi’s opponents.
Onifade had in a statement issued in the early hours of Sunday, 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 they have grabbed the election as they planned.
“While we are toeing the constitutional path to retrieve our mandate, those who have truncated the wishes of the majority of Nigerians have recoursed 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 demarketing 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.”
But confirming the authenticity of the same audio, Okonkwo wrote: “Our attention has been drawn to the publication of this audio tape of a private conversation between Obi 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.
“Firstly, the context of the conversation was aptly put by Oyedepo when he said ‘All Nigerians have an equal stake in this nation, nobody has the right to claim that he is dashing something to someone.’
“Obi was simply urging the Bishop to help him push this message of the 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.
“He further explained that the traditional ruler of Offa, the Olofa of Offa, who is a Muslim, advised Obi to get the support of Oyedepo and be assured of his own support. This, he said, happened during a visit to the traditional ruler.
“According to him, no politician has ever visited the Olofa of Offa. It is clear to everybody that the APC has a presidential candidate, vice presidential candidate, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, and National Chairman of the party all from one religion at a time the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) is a Muslim is a party that has declared religious war on Nigerians and we must all rise up together to fight this unconstitutional act of religious intolerance of other religions by APC.”
Corroborating Okonkwo, Valentine Obienyem, Obi’s media aide, also said the leaked audio of his principal’s conversation with Oyedepo was edited out of context. Obienyem also claimed, “our Nnewi prodigal brother is responsible for the leak.”
In a post on Facebook, Obienyem said: “The badly doctored conservation with Bishop Oyedepo released by our Nnewi prodigal brother is the much 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.”
Alluding to the leak to the National Communications Commission (NCC), he added a committee had been formed by the ruling administration basically to monitor all the phone conversations Obi made in the last three years if he had mentioned interim government or anything related to work towards his prosecution for treason.
He wrote: “I heard they set up a committee made up of some communications experts, headed by our prodigal brother from Nnewi. They 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 conversation with Bishop Oyedepo released by our Nnewi prodigal brother is the much 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.”
Meanwhile, Oyedepo, on Sunday, said he has never campaigned for any politician or spoken to any group on their behalf.
Oyedepo said this during a service at the church headquarters in the Ota area of Ogun State. Although he did not make any reference to any audio conversation, the cleric insisted that at no time has he ever spoken to any group on behalf of any politician.
He said that politicians from different political parties in the country came to him for prayers and advice before the general elections.
He said: “Nobody had ever told me what to say in this world. No. I have never campaigned for anybody or spoken on anybody’s behalf and I will not do that till I go to heaven. There is no party in this country that didn’t come to me for prayers and advice.
“I advised them, some, they don’t take. Those who chose to take they see results; those who said no are still going about it. If you still come again, I will still tell you, nothing will change.”
Read the transcript of the conversation below:
Obi: Good morning, daddy.
Oyedepo: Praise the Lord, how are you sir?
Obi: Fine daddy, good morning sir.
Oyedepo: Amen, in Jesus name, we are going to get bright results.
Obi: Thank you, daddy. When I hear these your calls and prayers, daddy, it’s very dear to me. Like I keep saying, if this works, you people will never regret the support.
Oyedepo: Amen! Amen! We look forward to God’s intervention.
Obi: Thank you, daddy. I need you to speak to your people in Southwest and Kwara, the Christians in South West and Kwara, this is a religious war.
Oyedepo: I believe that… I believe that… I believe that… You know I did a release ‘Nigeria Going Forward’ and I am coming with the second one today. I wanted it out when they won’t have any time to do damage control. But in the name of Jesus, this would be a success. You know what I said in today’s own? A sickling nation like Nigeria will require a strong and healthy personality. I said anyone whose source of wealth could not be verified should not have access to governance. So, all we are doing is appealing to the conscience of people to know where to go. But I want to assure you, in the name of Jesus, that the result will be favorable.
Obi: Thank you, daddy.
Oyedepo: So, relax yourself don’t be apprehensive. Are you in Lagos or Abuja?
Obi: I am in Onitsha, now.
Oyedepo: So, you will be there for the election?
Obi: Yes sir.
Oyedepo: Very good, that is where to be, I say all Nigerians have an equal stake, nobody has the right to claim that he is dashing something to someone, we are coming out of it, so, how is the East, generally?
Obi: East is okay. East is correct.
Oyedepo: And the Middle Belt?
Obi: It is okay, Middle Belt is okay, but places like Kogi, Kwara, and Niger are worrisome places.
Oyedepo: We will get to Kwara
Obi: Fantastic, I went to Kwara and visited Olofa of Offa who told me that nobody had ever come here, with you, no problem, but the Christian community in Kwara and Niger, and I am also working in Kogi the same way.
Oyedepo: Okay then, I will target this clip to them; I will make sure it gets to them.
Obi: Thank you, I will be looking forward to the release, as well, please send it to me.
Oyedepo: Okay, I will do that, God bless you.
Obi: Thank you, daddy.
