According to the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, (COSEYL), the alleged conversation between Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and David Oyedepo, General Overseer of the Living Faith Church, is an attempt to divert attention away from the flawed February 25 election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The group claimed that such propaganda was the work of desperate members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who were attempting to drown out the impact of the current drug case.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the group’s president, Goodluck Ibem, expressed concern that the party was willing to go as far as tarnishing the image of Oyedepo and Obi to win Nigerians over to their side.
Ibem said:
They suddenly manufactured this fake audio tape in order to change the topic of the drug case and election rigging which they know are solid evidences against them.
It is very unfortunate that they will go as far as insulting and questioning the integrity of a revered man of God like Bishop David Oyedepo and a man of integrity like Mr Peter Obi just to score cheap political points.
Mr Peter Obi never campaigned on the basis of religion or ethnicity, but engaged Nigerians on issue-based campaigns during the electioneering period before the elections.
Speaking further, Ibem defended the LP’s flag bearer and clergyman, saying they could never be involved in such discussions.
Following that, the group urged Nigerians to disregard the forged tape, claiming that it was the work of enemies seeking to destabilize the country.
We know vividly that the reason for manufacturing this fake audio tape is just to divert the attention of Nigerians from the drug case, but Nigerians are wiser and can never be deceived by such cheap false propaganda.
We call on Nigerians to ignore the antics of enemies of our democracy and our nation who want to destroy the peace in the country because of their selfish political benefits, the group added.