Valentine Obienyem, media aide to Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), says the leaked audio of his principal’s conversation with David Oyedepo, founder of Winners Chapel, was edited out of context.
In the audio clip, Obi appeared to be asking the cleric to speak to Christians to vote for him.
“Daddy, I need you to speak to your people in the South-West and Kwara, the Christians in the South-West and Kwara. This is a religious war. Like I keep saying: if this works, you people will never regret the support,” he apparently said in the trending audio.
But in a Facebook post on Sunday, Obienyem said: “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 did not name the “Nnewi brother” but it is understood to be a prominent member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who lives in Lagos state.
The APC fielded a Muslim-Muslim ticket, with Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima pairing to win the presidential election.
Obi in contesting the outcome in court.
Obienyem wrote: “I heard they set up a Committee made up of some Communications experts, 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.”
Earlier, Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesperson of the LP campaign, confirmed the authenticity of the audio but said “political criminals are trying to spin the conversation as if the LP candidate was making a religious comment”.
Oyedepo, who also spoke on Sunday, neither confirmed nor denied the conversation.
“Nobody had ever told me what to say in this world. No. I have never campaigned for anybody or speak on anybody’s behalf and I will not do that till I go to heaven,” he said.
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