The Special Assistant to the President on Digital Communication, Bashir Ahmad has called on patriotic Nigerians to condemn the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi’s leak ‘Thank you Daddy’.
Bashir Ahmad who made the call on his social media platforms Sunday while reacting to the audio clips which was released by the online newspaper, Peoples Gazzete, setting the social media on fire since Saturday.
It was reported that in the audio, Obi was heard begging Bishop Oyedepo to help him mobilise Christian voters ahead of election especially those in the North Central states of Kwara, Kogi and Niger, declaring the election was a religious war.
The Special Assistant to the President said “this Peter Obi’s leaked ‘thank you daddy’ audio shouldn’t be taken as a usual trending joking matter; all sensible and patriotic citizens should publicly condemn it.
Adding that, “it is a threat to our unity and democracy. If it is not handled well, it will be having negative impacts on our next elections”.
Nigerian movie star turned politician, Kenneth Okonkwo, who is also the spokesman for the Labour Party’s Presidential Campaign Council, currently facing backlash from some people for confirming the audio leaked.
The spokesman of the party took to his social media account on Sunday to verify the authenticity, claiming it was taken out of context by critics. “Political criminals are trying to spin the conversation as if Obi was making a religious statement.”
He said, “Our attention has been drawn to the publication of this tape of a private conversation between @peterobigregory and Bishop Oyedepo. It is not surprising that these political criminals are trying to spin conversation as if Obi was making a religious statement.
“Firstly, the context of the conversation was aptly put by Bishop Oyedepo when he said “All Nigerians have an equal stake in this nation, nobody has the right to claim that he is dashing something to someone.
“His Excellency Peter Obi was simply urging the Bishop to help him push this message of the equal stake of all Nigerians in the Nigerian project to his people and the christiandom because the politicians of the other party are carrying on this campaign as if it is a religious war”, the Spokesman said.
Meanwhile, it was reported further that Bishop Oyedepo broke his silence over the issue in his preaching on Sunday at Ota, Ogun State, the cleric noted that he has never campaigned for any politician or spoken on their behalf to anybody during any election in Nigeria.