The flag bearer of the Labour party in the February 25th 2023 presidential election, Peter obi has said that the audio recording is another attempt to distract the party from retrieving it’d mandate. Obi also denied the audio call recording between him and the General overseer of Living Faith ministry, David Oyedepo.
Obi described the the audio recording being circulated on social media as “fake”.
This was contained in a statement he issued on his social media page on Wednesday night.
Obi said “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.
The Labour party flag bearer had come under serious criticism over the audio recording. The opposition had been calling for his arrest over what they termed as treason. They accused Obi have ethnic politics and trying to invite violence in the country.
Obi reacting to it said, “Before ,during, and after the campaign, it is on record that I have maintained my commitment and focus on issue-based campaign about a New Nigeria that is POssible,a shift of emphasis from consumption to production, a New Nigeria characterized by inclusion, justice, equity, fairness, and prosperity.
“I repeatedly stated that no one should vote for me based on Tribe or Religion, but rather on the assessment of Character, Competence, Capacity, Credibility, and Compassion that can be trusted to create a New Nigeria”
He also stated that the present attempts by the APC as a Party, and the APC Led-government through some government officials and agencies to divert our attention from our blatantly stolen mandate is unfortunate and sad.
He said Mr Lai Mohammed’s accusations of him is malicious and that it was a way of making him leave the country.
“These have come and continued to manifest in different ways, such as the malicious accusation of the Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed, the circulation of a fake doctored audio call, and a pressure on me to leave the country”
He further stated that his legal team had been directed to take legal action against the online news magazine”People’s Gazzette ” over the release of the “fake audio recording.
“The attempts to manipulate Nigerians is very sad and wicked. Our legal team have been instructed to take appropriate legal actions against Peoples Gazette and others”
Obi called on the international community to call to order the APC led government to stop the attacks against him to allow him focus on retrieving his mandate.
“While we call on all concerned Nigerians and the International Community to implore the APC and the APC Led-government to stop their nasty attacks.
” my focus and commitment to lawfully and peacefully retrieve our mandate to secure and unite our Nation,take Nigeria from consumption to production, pull millions of Nigerians out of multidimensional poverty especially in the North, and jumpstart prosperity through agricultural, industrial, and technological revolution remain unchanged”
He advised those trying to heat up the polity to disist from it , rather , focus on getting the country out of the challenges it finds itself.
“Those fixated with heating up the polity, creating divisions, tensions and hatred within and outside Nigeria should remember that Nigeria is our only country’
” Our focus should be on how to address the litany of challenges facing us, such as: flawed electoral processes, the parlous state of our economy, unsustainable debt burden, lamentable unemployment and inflation, insecurity, and multi-dimensional poverty” he added
