The Labour party has taken a swipe at the spokespersons of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, accusing them of being afraid of the political movement embodied in its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Farouk Umar, the National Secretary, Labour Party, appeared on Arise News Night on Sunday to speak on the widely reported leaked phone conversation allegedly between Obi and the presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, David Oyedepo, where the latter reportedly sought the cleric’s assistance in convincing Christians in the South West and North Central to vote for him.
He said that the leaked phone conversation was distorted to convey a religious narrative against Obi.
“When you change the original content of an information, that information becomes fake.
“We have arrived at the conclusion that the audio is a fake audio, completely fake.
“We have it on record that the APC spokespersons have dared the Obidient that we are going to see media attacks,” Umar said.
He insisted that the APC and other opposition groups are allegedly promoting “cheap blackmail” against Obi due to his acceptability amongst Nigerians.
He said, “The opposition underrated the power of Nigerians to have good governance. They underrated everybody in the Obidient movement.
“When the (presidential election) voting was going on, it was when they realised that the movement is really coming to consume them that they woke up to realize that there is a problem.
“So, having gone to the ballot, having done what they had done to doctor the results which we are still contending in court, they have no option now than to start blaming, accusing and blackmailing him (Peter Obi), bringing in disunity and religion.
“Obi is a movement and he is sending fear into the powers that be; they never thought it was going to be like that, they didn’t know that Nigerians are so desperate for change. The narrative has already been changed, things are not going to continue the way they think it should be, Nigerians will never feel as if they are refugees in their own land.”
Farouk equally urged security agencies to rise up against doctoring of contents, saying it could even be used against the judiciary.
“Before power comes to us, they are hitting us left right and centre. They were saying we were just on social media, now they have seen reality. We dislodged them in their major strongholds,” Umar added.
Earlier, Oyedepo said he never campaigned for any politician or spoke to anyone on their behalf but counselled virtually all political parties that came to him for prayers and advice.
He indirectly denied the allegations in the leaked phone conversation but the APC held on to the development, saying that Obi’s presidential ambition in Nigeria is over.