Obi says Abuja should be ashamed for acting ‘a script written by APC’
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Peter Obi has expressed disappointment at the federal government for occupying itself with spinning conspiracies around him while it fails in its job of protecting lives and properties across the land.
Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) spokesman Yunusa Tanko, who spoke for the party’s candidate in Abuja, cited how the government sent Information Minister Lai Mohammed to go round major world cities to bash Obi with lies.
“We are disappointed but not surprised that the federal government which has failed in its primary responsibility of securing the lives and property of Nigerians across this country has made Obi-bashing a top priority,” Tanko said.
“As for Mr Lai Mohammed, it is unfortunate that a Minister, who has all the time to use his office to pressure the National Communications Commission (NCC) to slam a N5 million fine on Channels Television for performing its constitutional role, is now asking our candidate to play a script written by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to divert attention from the ongoing challenge to our stolen mandate.
“One may ask at this point: Is he also part of the plot to justify the unjustifiable electoral fraud? How come the Minister is now using taxpayers’ funds to globe-trot to lie to the international community about the sham of an election?
“He should be ashamed of himself that he has been put in a position to play the role of an advocate for INEC.
“INEC claimed there was a glitch while it attempted to upload the results of the presidential election but typical of Mr. Lai Mohammed, he is going around telling the world that INEC deliberately refused to upload the results on its IREV portal.
“The Minister owes himself and Nigerians a duty to find and expose the source of the so-called leaked audio which was doctored to suit a narrative capable of creating chaos in the polity.”
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Leaked audio tape
In the leaked audio published by Peoples Gazette, an online platform, Obi allegedly begged David Oyedepo, Bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide, to mobilise Christians in the South West and North Central to vote for him because the election was a religious war.
Obi has denied the allegation, describing the tape as “a fake, doctored audio call.” He has threatened to file a lawsuit against Peoples Gazette over the publication.
Mohammed accused Obi of treason in Washington last week, and on Monday challenged him at a press briefing in London to clarify what he meant by saying the leak was “a fake, doctored audio call.”
“I need to draw the attention of Nigerians to the recently leaked audio of a conversation between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the cleric,” Mohammed added, per Vanguard reporting.
“The leaked audio rattled Nigerians because we heard Obi pleading with the cleric to intervene on his behalf to convince Christians that this is a religious war and they should support him.”
Mohammed said in the aftermath of the leak, Obi came out to say it was “a fake, doctored audio call.”
He pressed that “if it is fake, it means it never took place. But if it is doctored, it means there was that conversation but it was manipulated.
“Obi needs to come out and make the clarification on whether the conversation did not take place or it took place, but it was doctored.
“If it was doctored, which part of it was doctored? Is it the beginning, the middle or the end or is it the ‘Yes Daddy’ part of it, or where he said it was a religious war?
“From the outcome of the presidential elections, you will see that Obi got his votes mostly from areas where he comes from and his religious leaning.
“This is not good for the politics of Nigeria and it is very dangerous. As a result of this kind of campaign, Nigeria is more divided than ever and people are being heard commenting either based on their religious position or ethnic origin. Many otherwise respected commentators are not left behind on the effect of this divisive politics.”
Mohammed disclosed his mission to London was to defend the legitimacy of the election and to correct the skewed narrative on the ballot, which he described as the freest in Nigeria’s history.
Oyedepo says doesn’t campaign for politicians
Oyedepo reacted by announcing he never campaigned for any politician or spoke on their behalf during the 2023 vote.
“I have never campaigned for anybody or spoken on anybody’s behalf and I will not do that till I go to heaven,” he told his congregation in a Sunday sermon two weeks ago.
“There is no party in this country that didn’t come to me for prayers and advice. I advised them, some, they didn’t take.
“Those who chose to take it saw results; those who said ‘no’ are still going about it. If you still come again, I will still tell you, it doesn’t change.”
