Despite confirmation by some key members of his party and after being silent for days, Obi on Wednesday described the leaked audio as fake.
Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has weighed in with his views on the leaked phone conversation between Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide.
Despite confirmation by some key members of his party and after being silent for days, Obi on Wednesday described the leaked audio as fake.
In the audio published by an online newspaper, Peoples Gazette on Saturday, Obi described the 2023 presidential election as a ‘religious war’.
The politician also repeatedly replied to the cleric with ‘Yes Daddy’, which quickly became a trending topic on Twitter.
But in a statement posted on his verified Twitter handle on Wednesday, Obi said, “Let me reiterate that the audio call being circulated is fake, and at no time throughout the campaign and now did I ever say, think, or even imply that the 2023 election is, or was a religious war.”
He added that “our legal team have been instructed to take appropriate legal actions against Peoples Gazette and others”.
However, in his statement issued on Friday and titled, ‘Fascism On Course,’ Soyinka said he has no “quarrel” with “Yes Daddy”, adding that “’Roman Catholics’ are used to saying ‘Yes, Father’. Secularists say ‘Enh, Baba.’”
“The context and content are what matters, and lies – where established - raise bothersome issues such as Integrity Deficiency,” he added.
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.”
Meanwhile, Obi’s claim contradicts the position of one of the spokespersons for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, and the candidate’s Media Assistant, Valentine Obienyem, who had admitted the veracity of the audio.
Soyinka further stated, “Let us remind ourselves of the following: in any adjudication, society finds it unacceptable that a party to the dispute resort to influencing tactics by extra-judicial means – such as bribery. Intimidation and threats are merely the obverse complements of material inducement. Those who fail to appreciate this are entirely free to their existence in an illusory world.
“We shall add the following pointer for this particular electoral tussle - the news may be unpleasant, but here it comes. Quite a few pundits have set out in some impressive – not necessarily persuasive - detail the- possibility that the complainants in this presidential election are not as strongly planted on the victory podium as they presume – see, for instance – Ambassador Haastrup’s fascinating analysis in Newspeak etc. April 6. Right or wrong? That is not the issue.
“What the nations needs to know right now is if you are planning to send assassins after such negative analysts.! Coming to terms with an unpalatable projected eventuality – sorry – possible eventuality, counsels deep reflection, not demonization of the bearer of sour news. For the seriously committed, it requires pulling back the horns a little in order to regroup, rethink and resurge. Democracy is sometimes a long haul. Some of us have been at it for quite a while
“I am well aware that the foregoing is further invitation for more nauseous bilge from the besotted. Please, be my guest. It is, after all, one of those special seasons of convergence of two seasons of self-flagellation. Fasting makes bearers of constricted minds even more light-headed. Delusions fill the vacuum.
“Oh yes, could these rabid parochial minds of easy excitation also kindly stop flattering themselves that one’s energies are consecrated solely to the nation space known as `Nigeria? The whines of “silence” are relative to the reading scope and world knowledge of idle complainants as well as their grasp of the chain of continuity.
“I choose my methods of intervention without the permission of social media border patrols, so where you find a gap, just pick up the baton where last deposited and stop whining and belly-aching – “he stopped talking all this while, why now?” etc etc ad nauseum. Flat, easy disposable lies that gain traction by repetition.
“However, even more importantly, they remain irrelevant to the rights and wrongs of ongoing material issue. Sadly, these virtue vigilantes succeed with the ignorant and susceptible – especially among the younger, confused generation.
“The consequence is that the nation is plagued by fake CVs compiled by all kinds of amateur commentators, still wet behind the ears, who have too few truths to build on before they are corralled into positions of No-Retreat. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the effrontery of attempts to place the present contention on the same podium as the twenty-year old anri-Abacha struggle!
“This gross abuse of historic licence actually provides smug satisfaction for rookie activists. I advise them to seek out the school of survivors where pertinent lessons still exist for those with sufficient humility to LEARN before MOUTHING! Otherwise their world of false mythologies will collapse under their feet, and leave them dangling in the void.”