Obi has not commented on it but the spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has confirmed that the audio was not doctored.
The Director of New Media of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Femi Fani-Kayode has lambasted the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi over his description of the 2023 election as a religious war.
Obi made the analogy in a leaked telephone conversation between him and Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide and Presiding Bishop of the Faith Tabernacle in Ota, Ogun State.
In the leaked phone conversation, Oyedepo prayed for Obi, saying, “In Jesus’ name, we are going to get a bright tomorrow,” with Obi replying by saying, “When I hear these prayers, it is very dear to me and like I keep saying, if this thing works, you people will never regret the support.”
Continuing the conversation, Oyedepo said, “We look forward to God’s intervention,” to which Obi responded by saying, “Thank you, Daddy. I need you to speak to your people in the Southwest and Kwara. The Christians in the Southwest and Kwara.” Bishop Oyedepo said: “Okay.”
Obi continued by saying, “This is a religious war,” with Oyedepo responding immediately, “I believe you, I believe that. You know, I did a release, ‘Nigeria going forward’ and I’m coming out with the second one today.”
Obi has not commented on it but the spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has confirmed that the audio was not doctored.
However, reacting to the audio leak, Fani-Kayode said for Obi to describe the presidential election as a "religious war", "tells you that he is nothing but an insufferable, irresponsible and uncouth intellectual barbarian and fraud and an ethnic and religious bigot."
He described Obi’s supporters, popularly known as ‘Obidients’ as "loud, brash, violent, disrespectful, ugly and vexatious to the spirit and they are fuelled, inspired and motivated by nothing but hate, ignorance, frustration, rage, an inferiority complex and the poisonous venom of an angry viper".
"They can continue to threaten, insult, traumatise and terrorise us and attempt to destabilise our country and hijack our planes as much as they want, it changes nothing!
"Whether they like it or not, despite their subversion and treason, in two months’ time Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, our President-elect, SHALL be sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and he will usher in a new era of peace, unity, prosperity and progress in the affairs of our country," he said.