Controversy Surrounds Obi, Oyedepo’s Phone Conversation

 

By Nurat Uthman

Controversy has continued to trail the telephone conversation between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi and the Founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, aka Winners’ Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo.

Obi was heard in the audio clip which went viral on Saturday asking Oyedepo to help spread his message to Christians in the South-West and parts of North-Central.

 “Daddy, I need you to speak to your people in the South-West and Kwara, the Christians in the South-West and Kwara,” Mr Obi was heard saying in the leaked audio clip. “This is a religious war.”

“I believe that, I believe that, I believe that,” Mr Oyedepo responded with Mr Obi saying on the other side of the phone that “If this works, you people will never regret the support.”

Reacting, Valentine Obienyem, a media aide to Obi, 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.

“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.”

Also, Oyedepo said on Sunday that he never campaigned for any politician or spoken on their behalf in the build-up to the general elections.

Oyedepo, while speaking to the congregation at the church’s headquarters, Faith Tabernacle, Ota, Ogun State, said, “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 (political) party in this country that didn’t come to me for prayers and advice.”

Meanwhile, a former governor of Enugu state, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, has criticised the Labour Party standard-bearer for allegedly introducing religious and ethnic politics in Nigeria.

He said, “He fed our people with the sacred apple and Nigeria may never be the same again.

“What was in whispers and hush hush tones, Peter proclaimed loud in decibels in cathedrals and holy sepulchers.”

The spokesperson for Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign, Mr Festus Keyamo, said Obi’s dream to be Nigeria’s President one day had died a natural death.

He said, “Having confirmed the authenticity of what is now known as the Peter Obi ‘Yes-Daddy’ audio, I think the real culprit here are the so-called ‘men of God’ who allowed themselves to be used by an unscrupulous politician to seek to inflame religious passions in our dear country in the name of politics.”

The hashtag #YesDaddy had since been trending online after the audio leak.

While some tweeps use the phrase, “Yes, Daddy” to throw jabs at Obi’s supporters, the latter used it to express support for him.

A twitter user, Shehu Sadiq, said, “Those of us that voted for Peter Obi in northern Nigeria will still vote for Peter Obi in case of a rerun election. No propaganda can change this because we know propaganda when we see them. So, your propaganda will have no effect in the North.”

Another tweet, Sarki, wrote, “Leaked Peter Obi phone conversation has been translated into Hausa. The APC are doing a lot of damage to Peter Obi’s political career in the North. They’re even going as far as sending it to WhatsApp contacts and groups.”

In another tweet, The Democracy Watchman wrote: “The APC propaganda machine has come out in full force to character assassinate (sic) Peter Obi and cause him to lose in the court of public opinion. But this generation is different.”