Addressing the media on Monday in London, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said Obi should clarify what he meant by saying the leaked conversation was “a fake doctored audio call.”

“I need to draw the attention of Nigerians to the recent leaked audio of conversation between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the cleric.

“The leaked audio rattled Nigerians because we heard Obi pleading with the cleric to interfere on his behalf to convince Christians that this is a religious war and they should support him,” he said.

The minister said that in the aftermath of the leaked audio, Obi came out to say that it was “a fake, doctored audio call.”

The minister said, “If it is fake, it means it never took place. But if it is doctored, it means there was that conversation but it was manipulated.

“Obi needs to come out and make the clarification on whether the conversation did not take place or it took place, but it was doctored.

If it was doctored, which part of it was doctored?

“Is it the beginning, the middle or the end or is it the ‘Yes Daddy’ part of it, or where he said it was a religious war?”

Mohammed said the leaked audio had corroborated the position that Obi’s electioneering campaign was based on religion and ethnicity.

Labour Party, Peter Obi, Bishop David Oyedepo, Lai Muhammed,

Many otherwise respected commentators are not left behind on the effect of this divisive politics,” he said.

The audio clip as released by an online newspaper was an alleged conversation between Obi and the founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo.

Speaking on his mission to London, the minister said it was to defend the legitimacy of the just concluded general elections and to correct the imbalance in the skewed narrative which had pervaded the air on the polls.

He said, like what he did recently in Washington, he would let the world know that the 2023 election was the freest in Nigeria’s history.

NAN reports that the minister is scheduled to hold conversations and meetings with international media organisations and relevant think tanks based in London

The audio allegedly had Obi telling Oyedepo that the presidential election was a religious war and that the clergyman should help him beg people in the South-West and Kwara State, especially Christians, to support his ambition.

Reacting, Obi, in a statement he personally signed on Wednesday, said at no point in his “issue-based campaign” did he ever refer to the election as a religious war.

He also lamented alleged attempts by the ruling All Progressives Congress to divert “attention from our blatantly stolen mandate.”

He said, “These have come and continued to manifest in different ways, such as the malicious accusation of the Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed, the circulation of a fake doctored audio call, and pressure on me to leave the country.

“Let me reiterate that the audio call being circulated is fake, and at no time throughout the campaign and now did I ever say, think, or even imply that the 2023 election is, or was a religious war.”

The former governor of Anambra State said his legal team had been instructed to take appropriate legal actions against the online media platform that published the leaked audio.

While we call on all concerned Nigerians and the international community to implore the APC and the APC-led government to stop their nasty attacks, my focus and commitment to lawfully and peacefully retrieve our mandate to secure and unite our nation, take Nigeria from consumption to production, pull millions of Nigerians out of multidimensional poverty, especially in the north, and jump-start prosperity through agricultural, industrial, and technological revolution remain unchanged,” Obi added.

The clergyman who gave the advice during a sermon to his congregation stated that feminism leads to frustration and devastation.

He lamented that women of today ignore the Bible’s instruction to submit to their husbands because they think such is outdated.

According to him, when the Bible says “submit yourself to your husband in everything,” women respond saying, “No, not today, that was before. Right now, nobody can do that. We are co-heirs, male and female, no difference.”

Oyedepo continued, saying such women think they are too smart for God to lead them.

He said when they are told that “this is the way to go,” they respond saying, “No, let me educate you, God. You didn’t go to school, did you?”

The clergyman continued, “Right now, there is a feminine revolution. Then you get into feminine frustration and destiny devastation.

“You know something, no book on earth will ever overtake the Bible in currency. It is the eternal truth. While the earth remains, the truth of scriptures remains in force, you either choose to follow or go your way.

“For we can do nothing against the truth – no matter what civilisation we are talking about – but for the truth at all times.

“If feminist revolution is your vision, don’t attempt to get married, because it won’t work.”

Babalola, who announced a donation of N50m for the confab, which he said was billed to hold soon at ABUAD hall and ABUAD Inn, said eminent Nigerians, including former Presidents and leading traditional rulers, would be attended to the confab to proffer solutions to the country’s problems.

He said, “The situation in Nigeria today is gruesome and all hands must be on the deck to save it from total collapse. I am proposing ABUAD as the venue of the summit because it is safe, has a Federal Ministry of Aviation-certified helipad, well equipped 400-bed multi-system hospital, among others.

Among personalities that Babalola said would be invited included the Sultan of Sokoto; Alhaji Saad Abubakar; Alaafin of Oyo; Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe and Obi Of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe; Bishop David Oyedepo; Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah; Pastor Enoch Adeboye; Gen. Theophilus Danjuma; Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Prof. Wole Soyinka; and Chief Ayo Adebanjo.

Speaking at a fully-packed service at Canaanland Ota, despite a ban on religious gatherings of more than 50 people in Ogun State due to outbreak of Coronavirus, Oyedepo stated that the only disease that has no cure is hunger.

He said “May God help our policy makers to make the right decision in finding solution to this scourge called Coronavirus. Now children are out of school, to go back to that crowd. Would they not be more secured in school where they are only 20 in class? They will now go to help their mama, to sell pepper in the market where you contact about 500,000 people a day in big cities. Everybody is trying to find solutions, may we find the right solution. May God help our leaders to make the right decision in search of solution to this pandemic. What we are doing is to ensure that the plague doesn’t spread. This has never happened in my lifetime that nations are shutting their doors against each other.  The world is at war with an invisible enemy and we must pray. Schools are being shut down, people are entering buses where everyone is breathing on everyone, every market in Africa is an open market. Can we test everybody taking a bus? Only God can rescue the world at this time. We are a law abiding congregation and must follow measures being put in place to contain the spread.”Only the help of God can save Nigeria and Africa in a while from this Pandemic. Plagues cannot stop us. Coronavirus cannot stop God’s children, but I assure you that the solution will be found this week. Strategies are being developed on how to manage this in respect to our worship programs. We will come up with specific programs during the week that will be communicated to everyone. Our Zonal positions may have to be enlarged to accommodate a lot of people.”

The Founder and General Overseer of the Living Faith Church a.k.a Winners Chapel stated that the proposed hate speech bill is aimed at silencing Nigerians. Oyedepo added that when one says something truthful, proponents of the bill may term it a ‘hate speech’.

He said “Hate speech is one of the most crazy idea ever. So if the road is bad, we should say it is good? You say something truthful about them and they call it is hate speech? You can’t silence a man of God because he is called by God. A prophet is answerable to God only, what God tells him he will say. You cannot stand for God and be a loser. I don’t know if anyone loves Nigeria more than I do. Imagine they are not hanging killers, they want to hang ‘hate speakers? Anyways that is dead already, if the wicked will not stop his wickedness God will stop his wickedness.”