‘Okay Daddy’: I spoke with Oyedepo, but never said election is religious war — Peter Obi

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party, LP, has confirmed that he spoke on the phone with David Oyedepo, the founder of Winners Chapel; however, Obi claims that he never referred to the 2023 election as a “religious war.”

On Monday, Obi made this statement while discussing the issue on Arise Television. He said that he called the cleric in an effort to solicit votes.

You may remember that in April, there was a leak of an audio conversation that took place between Obi and Oyedepo.
After the video was made public, Obi claimed that the audio had been altered and stated that at no point in time did he “ever say, think, or even imply that the 2023 election is, or was a religious war.” Obi also stated that the clip had been doctored.

“Call it whatever you want to call it,” Obi said. “I don’t care.” Whatever interpretation one may choose to put on it. I do not adhere to the bigotry of any religion. Do you think it would be possible for me to just pick up the phone and say the words “religious war”? Obi responded by saying, “No, I was even begging the bishop to help me ask his people to vote, and this is what I had been doing for the previous six months: begging.”

“When I said ‘force it,’ ‘catch him,’ and ‘kill him,’ that’s not what I meant. I was even begging. This demonstrates that I did not stop begging for votes throughout the campaign. There were a lot of things that we attempted to do, but they were all inappropriate.

“Let me tell you; those who have been attempting to manipulate Nigerians have been doing it,” the man said. “Let me tell you what happened. But everything is about to come to an end. The people that they have been manipulating are starving to death as a result of their actions.

They will soon discover who among them is a bigot because of their religious or tribal beliefs. I am not like that. You have just been provided with an illustration of how I constructed mosques. To this day, there has not been a non-Muslim governor who has sent more pilgrims to Mecca than I have.

Read Also: APC boss reveals how Amaechi, Giadom conspired against Tinubu

I will never assert that this election is a religious conflict. Because that is not the case. There was a talk that took place. But I never implied that it was a conflict based on religious beliefs. To what end? I cannot escape the crowd that is surrounding me.Me and Datti are the closest thing there is to a “brotherly” relationship between a presidential candidate and his deputy running for the same office. And yes, I am aware, and we never get tired of discussing it.

“This is a first in the annals of Nigerian politics; we have a presidential candidate, a running mate, and the party chairman who were all born after Nigeria gained its independence.

“It is imperative that we save this country, and he (Datti) is aware of my dedication to this cause. Because of the ongoing religious conflict, I am unable to complete all of these.