The Labour Party Presidential candidate in the Feb 25 election, Peter Obi, has admitted that he made the controversial phone call to Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church Worldwide (aka Winners Chapel), that was leaked to the media in early April.
The phone call purportedly happened before the presidential election.
In the viral audio, Obi was heard pleading with Oyedepo to help sway Christian votes his way, especially in the Southwest region and Kwara State.
While stating that he was already working on winning votes in Kogi and Niger States, the former Anambra governor described the 2023 presidential election as a “religious war” that must be won.
Obi repeatedly said ‘Yes Daddy’ to Oyedepo, as the latter prayed for the politician and assured him of electoral victory.
During an interview with AriseTV, Obi admitted that the phone call happened, but denied tagging the election a “religious war.”
Asked if the phone conversation actually took place or if it was another propaganda aided by artificial intelligence, he said, “Call it whatever you want to call it. Whatever anyone wants to make of it. I am not a religious bigot.
“Do you think I can just pick a phone and say ‘religious war’? No, I was even begging the bishop to help me ask his people to vote, which was what I was doing for six months – begging. I wasn’t saying ‘catch him’, ‘kill him’, ‘force it’. I was even begging. That shows that I continued to look for votes by begging. There were so many things we tried to do but they were not okay.”
Obi also added that as governor of a predominantly Christian State, he sponsored a lot of Muslims to Mecca.
“Let me tell you. Those who have been trying to manipulate Nigerians have been doing it. But it is coming to an end. The people they have been manipulating are dying of hunger. They will soon know who is the religious or tribal bigot. I am not one. I have just given you an example of how I built mosques. Till today, no non-Muslim governor has sent more people to Mecca than me.
“I can never say it (poll) is a religious war. Because it is not. There was a conversation. But I never said it was a religious war. What for? I am surrounded by people. If there was ever an instance where the presidential candidate and his deputy work as brothers, it is me and Datti. And I know and we never stop talking about it.
“For the first time in the history of Nigeria, we had a presidential candidate, running mate and party chairman who were born after Nigeria’s Independence. We must save this country and he (Datti) knows my commitment to it. I can’t do all these with the background of religious war,” Obi said.
After the audio leaked, Obi had threatened to sue Peoples Gazette for publishing it. He had also described the leak as fake.
His team had also sent out discordant tunes on the development, with some of his supporters denying that the conversation took place, while others said it had been manipulated and taken out of context to fit political motives.