Oyedepo is the founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide and the presiding bishop of the Faith Tabernacle in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.
As controversy continues to surround the leaked audio telephone conversation between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi in the 2023 election and Bishop David Oyedepo, Obi's Media Assistant, Valentine Obienyem has revealed that the audio was released by someone known to them.
Oyedepo is the founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide and the presiding bishop of the Faith Tabernacle in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.
According to Obienyem, like Obi, the person in question is from Anambra State. Obi is a former governor of Anambra.
Obienyem said the person is from Nnewi in Anambra but stopped short of mentioning his name.
He described him as a "Nnewi prodigal brother" but noted that the audio was doctored to leave out some elements that would have provided some context in order to smear Obi's character and reputation.
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.”
Describing Obi's phone conversation as badly doctored, Obienyem said Obi was saying "that in a society like ours, religious balancing was a necessary consideration and that their recklessness (referring to All Progressives Congress) had made Christians to assume it was a religious war."
He stated: "I heard they set up a Committee made up of some people from National Communications Commission, headed by our prodigal brother from Nnewi.
"They are reviewing all calls Obi made in the last three years, and especially now to see if he mentioned Interim Government or anything that will make them prosecute him for treason when and if they take over."
"Till now, they are yet to see any. The badly doctored conservation with Bishop Oyedepo released by our Nnewi prodigal brother is the much they have discovered so far.
"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," he added.
Speaking on the option of waiting for another four years, Obienyem said, "Nigerians want the judiciary to quicken the process and complete it before the 29th.
"On the logic of waiting for another four years, I can only say that with what the man did even when he was not the president, we can deduce what he can do as President. At that time, there might be no voting but declared results.
"This is a case of elders destroying the country!"
Earlier, SaharaReporters reported that the situation had led to confusion in the Labour Party camp with contrasting statements coming from spokespersons for the party’s presidential campaign council.
For instance, the Head of Obi-Datti Media Office, Diran Onifade, in a statement in Abuja, on Sunday, described the leaked phone conversation as fake.
Onifade described it as proof of the desperation of the ruling All Progressives Congress to retain power by all means.
He said, “It appears the All Progressives Congress’ desperation to grab and retain power by foul means has refused to go away more than a month after they have grabbed the election as they planned.
“While we are toeing the constitutional path to retrieve our mandate, those who have truncated the wishes of the majority of Nigerians have recoursed to mischief and endless subterfuge to continue to hold on to what they know does not belong to them.
“From the show of shame in Port Harcourt to the drama in the Ibom Air aircraft, both of which they contrived, they have now moved to the circulation of a deep fake audio file aimed at promoting religious tension in the country.
“All these are meant to serve no other purpose than egregious mischief aimed at demarketing Peter Obi. If the goal is to create a credibility problem, the ploy has failed woefully.
“Peter Obi has long been on record as the only presidential candidate who has urged the Nigerian electorate not to vote for him on the basis of religion or tribe.
“We will therefore like to advise our beloved Nigerian people to remain focused on the task to take back the mandate we know was freely given to Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed through legitimate means.
“That is more important than to expect those who ran election on forged credentials and even fake Bishops to stop faking. They cannot stop being fraudulent because that is who they are.”
However, one of the spokespersons for the party’s presidential campaign council, Kenneth Okonkwo, said the audio is authentic.
He, however, put the blame on the APC for fielding a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket and having Muslims occupy key positions in its government.
Okonkwo, who described the leaked audio as a private conversation, said, “Our attention has been drawn to the publication of this audio tape of private conversation between @peterobigregory 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".
“His Excellency Peter Obi 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 Christendom 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 the 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.”