Festus Keyamo, a spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has said Peter Obi’s dream to be Nigeria’s President sometime in the future has died a natural death.
In a post on his Twitter page on Sunday, Keyamo made the claim while making reference to a leaked phone conversation between Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election and the founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo.
In the phone conversation which was had before the February 25 presidential election and was leaked by Peoples Gazette, Oyedepo began his prayer for the former governor of Anambra State by saying, “In Jesus’ name, we are going to get a bright tomorrow,” with Obi replying by saying, “When I hear these prayers, it is very dear to me and like I keep saying, if this thing works, you people will never regret the support.”
Continuing the conversation, Oyedepo said, “We look forward to God’s intervention,” to which Obi responded by saying, “Thank you, Daddy. I need you to speak to your people in the Southwest and Kwara. The Christians in the Southwest and Kwara.” Bishop Oyedepo said: “Okay.”
Obi continued by saying, “This is a religious war,” with Oyedepo responding immediately, “I believe you, I believe that. You know, I did a release, ‘Nigeria going forward’ and I’m coming out with the second one today.”
“You know what I said in the first one, a sickling nation like Nigeria requires a strong and healthy personality, and I said that anyone whose source of wealth cannot be verified should not have access to governance, particularly in an economy like Nigeria. I want to assure you that in the name of Jesus, the results shall be favourable,” Oyedepo said.
Oyedepo further promised to get Christians in Kwara State to vote for Obi while Obi confirmed to the cleric that he was worried over Kogi and Niger states but that he was working on it as he was meeting with Christian communities in those states. Obi also requested that Bishop Oyedepo should send the second statement to him personally.
However, according to Keyamo, judging by the controversial conversation between Obi and the influential Christian cleric in which they both noted that the presidential election was a religious war, the former should kiss what was left of his presidential ambition goodbye.
Keyamo wrote, “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 in order 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!”
