SPECIAL REPORT: Nigeria’s 2023 elections, the controversies, the genesis – Fact, fake and twist in the Obi/Oyedepo’s leaked phone conversation
*Tinubu’s spokesman, Festus Keyamo, hits opposition party over leaked audio
*As Obi-Datti’s Media Office differently confirms, explains conversation
*Says audio taken out of context as Obi’s aide accuses NCC of leaking principal’s private calls
*How APC allegedly reviews Obi’s pbone calls to indict him on Interim Govt allegation – Okonkwo
*Our Nnewi prodigal brother used by APC is responsible for the leak – Obienyem
*Oyedepo: I have never campaigned for any politician, not even my advice they take
*Suspended PDP’s Nnamani says Obi introduced religion, ethnicity into Nigerian politics
*Wole Soyinka to APC, PDP, Others: Send your spokesmen on vacation
*Genesis of ethnic, religious controversies in 2023 elections: The CAN angle – Investigations
*Reveal contributions of security agencies, vulnerability of Nigerians to post-poll issues
By KEMI KASUMU
“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. The badly doctored conversation 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,” Kenneth Okonkwo wrote.
Now over five weeks after the February 25, 2023 presidential election and national assembly elections in Nigeria, the dust raised by issues of alleged infractions on the party of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) regarding obeying its own Regulations and Guidelines it announced to use in the conduct of the exercise remains flying in the sky, unsettled.
This is as audio of a phone conversation between one of the four leading contestants and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, and the Founder/Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide a.k.a. Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, leaked and went viral on social media last weekend.
In the viral leaked audio, which moved from being a social media matter to gain main media attention as it was published on Saturday by an online newspaper ‘People’s Gazette’, Obi came under fire by the ruling class for allegedly declaring the 2023 presidential election a religious war, as he was heard begging Oyedepo for support with an appeal to help his presidential course by speaking to his followers in the Southwest and North Central state of Kwara.
Sound of the leaked conversation
The leaked audio of conversation between Peter Obi and David Oyedepo, on Saturday, generated heated controversies on social media with many supporters of the ruling party condemning Obi as they blame him for introducing religion into the Nigerian politics from the campaign period.
The conversation, initiated by Obi, went thus: Obi: “Good morning, daddy.” Oyedepo: “Praise the Lord, how are you sir?” Obi: “Fine daddy, good morning sir.” Oyedepo: “Amen, in Jesus name, we are going to get bright results.” Obi: “Thank you, daddy. When I hear these your calls and prayers, daddy, it’s very dear to me. Like I keep saying, if this works, you people will never regret the support.” Oyedepo: “Amen! Amen! We look forward to God’s intervention.” Obi: “Thank you, daddy. I need you to speak to your people in Southwest and Kwara, the Christians in South West and Kwara, this is a religious war.” Oyedepo: “I believe that… I believe that… I believe that… You know I did a release ‘Nigeria Going Forward’ and I am coming with the second one today. I wanted it out when they won’t have any time to do damage control. But in the name of Jesus, this would be a success. You know what I said in today’s own? A sickling nation like Nigeria will require a strong and healthy personality. I said anyone whose source of wealth could not be verified should not have access to governance. So, all we are doing is appealing to the conscience of people to know where to go. But I want to assure you, in the name of Jesus, that the result will be favourable. Obi: Thank you, daddy. Oyedepo: “So, relax yourself don’t be apprehensive. Are you in Lagos or Abuja?” Obi: “I am in Onitsha, now. Oyedepo: “So, you will be there for the election? Obi: Yes sir.” Oyedepo: “Very good, that is where to be, I say all Nigerians have an equal stake, nobody has the right to claim that he is dashing something to someone, we are coming out of it, so, how is the East, generally? Obi: East is okay. East is correct.” Oyedepo: “And the Middle Belt?” Obi: “It is okay, Middle Belt is okay, but places like Kogi, Kwara and Niger are worrisome places.” Oyedepo: We will get to Kwara.” Obi: “Fantastic, I went to Kwara and visited Olofa of Offa who told me that nobody had ever come here, with you, no problem, but the Christian community in Kwara and Niger, and I am also working in Kogi same way. Oyedepo: Okay then, I will target this clip to them; I will make sure it gets to them. Obi: Thank you, I will be looking forward to the release, as well, please send it to me. Oyedepo: “Okay, I will do that, God bless you.” Obi: “Thank you, daddy.”
APC’s Festus Keyamo
Festus Keyamo (SAN), who was spokesman of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, described the utterances of Oyedepo and Obi as shameful.
According to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), God exposed Obi for declaring a religious war in a multi-religious and multi-ethnic country.
“Having confirmed the authenticity of what is now known as the Peter Obi ‘Yes-daddy’ audio, I think the real culprit here are the so-called ‘men of God’ who allowed themselves to be used by an unscrupulous politician to seek to inflame religious passions in our dear country in the name of politics.
“So, when they were telling their hapless adherents that they heard the voice of the Lord, it was actually Peter Obi’s telephone calls they heard and not God’s voice. This is deceitful, shameful and disgusting. Imagine a so-called ‘man of God’ comparing notes with a politician as to what he said or what he would say on the pulpit to get him votes.
“I hope this sufficiently embarrasses the ‘men of God’ in Nigeria to forthwith desist from using the pulpit for politics and the Church-goers to stop being teleguided by their self-serving ‘men of God’.
“As for Peter Obi who declared an election a ‘religious war’ in a multi-religious and multi-ethnic country like ours, the real God has just exposed him and his dream to be Nigeria’s President one day has just died a natural death. ‘Yes-daddy’ is now permanently etched in the consciousness of the nation and we will never forget it!”
Obi-Datti’s different reactions, say audio taken out of context
Moving forward, the audio of the two men’s conversation, believed to have been deliberately leaked either by elements within the Nigerian Telecommunications Commission (NCC) or officially by the Commission, has thrown the Labour Party (LP) candidate’s media team into confusion as reactions of different tones emerge from it and the party.
In a reaction coming from a member of the Obi-Datti Media Office, Kenneth Okonkwo, the leaked audio was confirmed as authentic as he said it was not a deep fake. The confusion stemmed from the standpoint of the fact that Okonkwo’s statement came few hours after a statement by Head of the same Obi-Datti Media Office and veteran broadcaster, Mr. Diran Onifade, had dismissed the audio as deep fake and a product of the propaganda machinery of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The DEFENDER reports that Okonkwo’s statement issued in a series of tweets on his Twitter handle after Diran Onifade’s statement, rather than stoking confusion, however, served the purpose of explaining what truly the situation was, as it said the audio was taken out of context by Obi’s opponents.
Okonkwo wrote: “Our attention has been drawn to the publication of this audio tape of private conversation between Obi and Bishop Oyedepo. It is not surprising that these political criminals are trying to spin the conversation, as if Obi was making a religious statement.
“Firstly, the context of the conversation was aptly put by Oyedepo when he said ‘All Nigerians have equal stake in this nation, nobody has the right to claim that he is dashing something to someone.’
“Obi was simply urging the Bishop to help him push this message of equal stake of all Nigerians in the Nigerian project to his people and the Christendom because the politicians of the other party is carrying on this campaign as if it is a religious war.
“He further explained that the traditional ruler of Offa, the Olofa of Offa, who is a Muslim, advised Obi to get the support of Oyedepo and be assured of his own support. This, he said, happened during a visit to the traditional ruler.
“According to him, no politician has ever visited the Olofa of Offa. It is clear to everybody that the APC has a presidential candidate, vice presidential candidate, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, National Chairman of the party all from one religion at a time the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) is a Muslim is the party that has declared religious war on Nigerians and we must all rise up together to fight this unconstitutional act of religious intolerance of other religions by APC,” Okonkwo said in his series of tweets.
Obienyem
Corroborating Okonkwo, Valentine Obienyem, Obi’s media aide, also said the leaked audio of his principal’s conversation with Oyedepo was edited out of context. Obienyem also claimed “our Nnewi prodigal brother is responsible for the leak.”
In a post on Facebook, 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.”
Alluding the leak to the National Communications Commissions (NCC), he added a committee had been formed by the ruling administration basically to monitor all the phone conversations Obi made in the last three years if he had mentioned interim government or anything related to work towards his prosecution for treason.
He 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. The badly doctored conversation 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,” Okonkwo said in the series of tweets.
Onifade
Earlier, Diran Onifade had, in a statement issued in the early hours of Sunday, said: “It appears the APC’s desperation to grab and retain power by foul means has refused to go away more than a month after they have grabbed the election as they planned.
“While we are toeing the constitutional path to retrieve our mandate, those who have truncated the wishes of the majority of Nigerians have recoursed to mischief and endless subterfuge to continue to hold on to what they know does not belong to them.
“From the show of shame in Port Harcourt to the drama in the Ibom Air aircraft, both of which they contrived, they have now moved to the circulation of a deep fake audio file aimed at promoting religious tension in the country.
“All these are meant to serve no other purpose than egregious mischief aimed at demarketing Peter Obi. If the goal is to create a credibility problem, the ploy has failed woefully.
“Peter Obi has long been on record as the only presidential candidate, who has urged the Nigerians electorate not to vote for him on the basis of religion or tribe.”
Oyedepo
Meanwhile, Oyedepo, on Sunday, said he has never campaigned for any politician or spoken to any group on their behalf.
Oyedepo said this during a service at the church headquarters in the Ota area of Ogun State. Although he did not make any reference to any audio conversation, the cleric insisted that at no time has he ever spoken to any group on behalf of any politician.
He said that politicians from different political parties in the country came to him for prayers and advice before the general elections.
He said: “Nobody had ever told me what to say in this world. No. I have never campaigned for anybody or spoken on anybody’s behalf and I will not do that till I go to heaven. There is no party in this country that didn’t come to me for prayers and advice.
“I advised them, some, they don’t take. Those who chose to take they see results; those who said no are still going about it. If you still come again, I will still tell you, nothing will change.”
While presidential candidate of the ruling APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who opted for a Muslim-Muslim ticket appeared to aggravate the worries of Christians and during the campaign, appealed to the Muslim base partly to court Northern Muslims, Obi projected himself as the frontline Christian in the race.
Nnamani
Also weighing in, Chairman, Senate Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa/NEPAD, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, Enugu East, took a swipe at Obi, alleging that he introduced religious and ethnic politics in Nigeria.
In a statement on Sunday, the former Enugu State governor said that reviewing the activities of the just concluded elections, he came to a conclusion that “Obi deflowered the virgin innocence of political patriotism and nationalism in Nigeria. He fed our people with the sacred apple and Nigeria may never be the same again.”
Nnamani lamented: “What was in whispers and hush-hush tones, Peter proclaimed loud in decibels in Cathedrals and Holy Sepulchers. The Roman Catholic dominant politics Peter mastered and foisted on Anambra people when he was a governor was a prelude to his nationwide campaigns.”
Nnamani noted that Obi’s religious war in garbs of Labour Party politics were nationalised and universalised for all Christian dominations among Nigerians home and abroad. “Peter proselytised do not vote for me because I am a Christian but the code was clear and its subliminal assimilation final,” he quipped.
Wole Soyinka
In the meantime, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has urged the leading presidential candidates in the just-concluded election to send their spokespersons on vacation following the recent narratives hitting deep into the polity.
Speaking during an interview on Roadmap 2023, a Channels Television’s programme that highlights election issues and tracks personalities, Soyinka said Nigeria can still get its democratic concert if the country starts doing things right.
He described the electoral exercise as still an ongoing process “until the final pronouncement is made as far as I’m concerned.”
Genesis of ethnic, religious controversies in 2023 elections
The DEFENDER reports that the attachment of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to the Peter Obi’s course as Labour Party (LP)’s presidential candidate for the 2023 spelt a new beginning for the ethnic and religious politics as it publicly and openly declared him as chosen front-runner in actualizing its allegedly “sinister” of making him President to take Nigeria as a Christian State.
This online newspaper proceeds further as it gathered that CAN has the history of religious politics since it started taking side against President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and repeating same in 2019 projecting the All Progressives Congress (APC) as an Islamic/Northern Party and that its then presidential candidate, Buhari, was frontrunner for grabbing the Nigeria’s Presidency and using it to foist its alleged Islamicisation and Northernisation Agenda on Nigeria by converting them to Islam.
With that background of weaponisation of religion in the political football playing in Nigeria still fresh even in the memory of Nigerians across religions and ethnicity boundaries, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) coming again in 2023 to endorse Peter Obi posed a big challenge.
Our investigations further revealed that CAN was joined in the politicisation religion in the Lord’s Vineyard by many Pentecostal churches including the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), which transmitted instructions for creation of directorates of politics, with pastors and members of most of the churches openly campaigning, delivering prophecies about acclaimed “will of God” to favour Peter Obi as Buhari’s successor and next President of the country.
This, and as well as the allegation of collection of N2 billion from the Labour Party’s presidential candidate by CAN, which took the nation’s Christianity’s apex body over one month to deny, kicked off the controversy that surrounded Peter Obi’s presidential project at a time the Nigerian youths and many more citizens of working class seek alternative to the existing order in the political administration of Nigeria. We report, by way of outcome of our investigations, that it was the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)’s introduction of Christian State Agenda to the 2023 general elections (and not statements by Labour Party’s Obi) that caused the weaponisation of religion.
The DEFENDER further gathered that it was so correct to say being that all political aspirants mainly presidential and governorship candidates during the electioneering campaigns in the buildup to the 2023 general elections participated in the weaponisation of religion as All Progressives Congress (APC)’s presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu, despite holding a political front of a Muslim-Muslim ticket, organised a group of Christian church leaders that is the bishops that attended his declaration in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Recall the “alleged fake bishops” controversies that surrounded the attendance of Tinubu’s APC Muslim-Muslim ticket unveiling amidst APC Christian Wing’s anti Muslim-Muslim campaign led former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) David Lawal Babachir and supported by former House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, a very huge season that put most conscious members of the Nigerian Press to integrity test in the bid to unravel the authenticity of claims that those church leaders were truly bishops and not fake and sincerity of their attendance in the interest of Nigeria.
Contributions of security agencies, vulnerability of Nigerians
According to our investigations, the post-elections era controversies, allegations and agitations that the Federal Government, the armed forces, security and intelligences are now asserting energies to tackle could have could have simply been avoided by authorities simple fact of performing their respective duties.
Sources, who spoke to The DEFENDER at different locations in Lagos, Kano and Ogun states expressed disappointment that security agencies that hyped the hundreds of thousands of personnel and modern type equipment deployed to provide elections security across the country chose where to perform and where to look the other way.
According to the investigations, Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and Civil Society and Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), which had earlier given their comment in the preliminary report of the presidential and national assembly elections conduct in parts of the country praising INEC, had expressed hope that the electoral umpire would sustain the performance until later in the day on that Saturday February 25, not only the game changed with alleged failure of the electoral regulations body to obey its own guidelines but also failed in the governorship elections that followed on Saturday March 18 after having to postpone from March 11.
The elections observer groups, which spoke through TMG Chairman, Mallam Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), had raised the alarm in the buildup to the elections with regard how the ruling APC was planning to use armed thugs to rig elections in Lagos, Kaduna and Kano states, urging security agencies arrest and prosecute owners of videos inciting ethnic conflicts in Lagos State but which our latest sources said security agencies failed to adhere to.
One of them said, “It is therefore sad that the same government and security agencies are now quick to silence aggrieved opposition parties’ members, who are agitating for justice and whose agitations are not only legitimate but proof of consequences of the wrong done during the elections, which they and INEC failed to check. To me, it looks more like a deliberate decision to let those infractions happen.”
According to him, “The vulnerability of members of the Nigerian public is another area of concern because now, you now see people talking more about an Interim Government that I don’t believe any of the opposition parties’ leaders or members they are alleging or are making frantic effort to indict has power and resources to impose. How do you install Interim Government when you have no access to control of police and armed forces? Those who are in the ruling party should check more among themselves in their search for the culprits they alerted us about.
“It is going to be a bad precedent that Nigeria, which under President Muhammadu Buhari, has led Africa in terms of true democratic principles since 2015, is now drifting faster into a society that is intolerant to media’s legitimate course of constructive criticism and you also have members of ruling party justifying the burning down of a market as huge as Akere Spare Parts Market, Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos and he still had the gut to sit on a global television network like Arise News to confidently stand by that position of his.
“He even said further that he was calling on Government of Lagos State to go to that market and level the place to the ground and relocate to another place as he justified that the place was burnt down because it was a market in residential area. I am talking of an APC member speaking on a global television network. That is the height of the impunity by a ruling political class still engages in unguarded utterances despite knowing that they are about grab power of military and the police. Are we truly in a democracy?” He said.
