Lai Mohammad, minister of information and culture, has asked Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), to clarify his position on a leaked audio conversation featuring him and David Oyedepo, the founder of Winners Chapel.
In the audio clip, a voice similar to that of Obi can be heard asking Oyedepo to speak to the Christians in the south-west and Kwara to vote for him in the presidential poll, describing the election as a “religious war”.
Obi, however, said the audio is a fake doctored audio call, and “at no time did he ever say, think, or even imply that the 2023 election is, or was a religious war”.
The LP campaign council also called the audio a deep fake and accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of trying to demarket Obi.
Speaking with journalists on Monday in London, Mohammed said Obi should clarify what he meant by saying the leaked conversation was “a fake doctored audio call.”
”If it is fake, it means it never took place. But if it is doctored, it means there was that conversation but it was manipulated,” NAN quoted him as saying.
“Obi needs to come out and make the clarification on whether the conversation did not take place or it took place, but it was doctored.
“If it was doctored, which part of it was doctored? Is it the beginning, the middle or the end, or is it the ‘Yes Daddy’ part of it, or where he said it was a religious war?”
Mohammed said the leaked audio is proof that Obi’s electioneering campaign was based on religion and ethnicity.
“From the outcome of the presidential elections you will see that Obi got his vote mostly from areas where he comes from and his religious leaning,” he said.
”This is not good for the politics of Nigeria and it is very dangerous.
“As a result of this kind of campaign, Nigeria is more divided than ever and people are being heard commenting either based on their religious position or ethnic origin.”
(TheCable)
