The conversation begins with Oyedepo telling Obi that he informed his congregants that Nigeria needs a healthy leader.
By Jeffrey Agbo
A conversation between the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the presiding bishop of Living Faith Church International, Bishop David Oyedepo, has been leaked.
The tape was leaked via social media on Saturday.
The duo had the conversation prior to the February 25 presidential election in which Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared winner.
The conversation begins with Oyedepo telling Obi that he informed his congregants that Nigeria needs a healthy leader. Obi thanks him and asks him to help convince Christians in the South West and in Kwara to vote for him.
Obi described the election as “religious war”.
The former Anambra State governor visited Oyedepo at least twice last year. First was in July when Oyedepo turned 61.
On Thursday, December 8, 2022, the politician attended Shiloh 2022, the biggest programme of the year at Faith Tabernacle.
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Speaking on the leaked tape, spokesman of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, said Obi described the election as a “religious war” in his conversation with Oyedepo because of how other politicians were going about it.
He said in a statement on Sunday released on Twitter, “Our attention has been drawn to the publication of this audio tape of private conversation between @PeterObi 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 Bishop Oyedepo when he said ‘All Nigerians have equal stake in this nation, nobody has the right to claim that he is dashing something to someone.’ H E @PeterObi 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 christiandom because the politicians of the other party is carrying on this campaign as if it is a religious war.
“To drive home this point, he informed him that he visited the traditional ruler of Offa, the Olofa of Offa, who is a Muslim, but who advised Obi to get the support of Oyedepo and be assured of his own support.
“No Politician has ever visited the Olofa of Offa. It is clear to everybody that the APC political party that has a Presidential Candidate, Vice Presidential Candidate, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, National Chairman of the Party all from one religion at a time the CJN is a Muslim is the 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.
“I went around with Obi on campaign train and never saw him discriminate against any religion. Of course he can’t because his Vice is a Muslim unlike APC. I resigned from APC because of their religious intolerance. Nigerians should disregard any insinuation of religious bigots about this tape.”
