Nearly a month after Peter Obi, Labour Party’s candidate, denied the leaked audio tape in which he was heard plotting a ‘religious war’ with famous cleric and founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, the former Anambra governor has failed to make good his threat to bring legal action against the online news outlet that reported the leak and analysed his widely condemned role.
His refusal to sue based on his contention that the audio leak was a defamatory fabrication has prompted fresh allegations that Obi’s denial and resort to legal steps was merely a distraction tactic deployed to draw the attention of the public away from the damaging revelation.
In the audio, Obi spoke in deference to the cleric, urging him to help reach out Christian voters in some states where he had trouble connecting with the electorates such as Kogi, Kwara, and Niger.
He told the cleric that the election must be prosecuted as a religious war between Christians and Muslims, and encouraged him to alter his sermons to contain slanderous content about his opponents, particularly the false narrative that they were on a mission to Islamize the country as a way to galvanize the Christian votes.
The revelation sparked nationwide criticism of Obi, with many berating him as a desperate political actor willing to divide the country across its faultlines, especially ethnic and religion, to secure a political advantage and claim an unlikely win in the presidential contest.
Despite the controversy, Obi maintained an awkward silence for days before finally releasing a statement denying the tape and announcing his decision to sue the online news outlet responsible for reporting the leak.
Obi’s rebuttal was against the backdrop of his media team having confirmed the authenticity of the audio but claimed it was edited out of context.
Oyedepo, on his part, refused to speak to journalists on the issue but when he stepped on to the pulpit the next day after the story was out, he said to his congregation that politicians of all parties regularly come to him for advice on elections, which he gladly offered.
Distancing himself from the audio and blaming the opposition as the brain behind the leak, Obi said his legal team “has been instructed to take appropriate legal actions against Peoples Gazette and others.”
However, 17 days since then, he has yet to take any action, causing many to believe that the audio was indeed real and Obi’s denial was merely a face-saving tactic.