"The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has verified that he had a phone discussion with David Oyedepo, the founder of Winners Chapel. However, he denies describing the 2023 election as a 'religious war' during the conversation."

During an interview on Monday, Obi explained that he contacted the cleric to request votes, and he did not refer to the election as a religious battle. It's worth noting that an audio recording of the conversation between Obi and Oyedepo was leaked in April.

After the clip was made public, Obi insisted that it was doctored and claimed that he never stated, thought, or suggested that the 2023 election was a religious war.

According to Obi, "You can interprete it however you want. I am not someone who holds bigoted views based on religion. Do you believe that I could just casually pick up the phone and talk about a 'religious war'? No, I was actually pleading with the bishop to encourage his followers to vote, which I did for six months - I pleaded. I didn't say anything about 'capturing him,' 'killing him,' or 'forcing him.' I was simply pleading. This demonstrates that I continued to seek votes by begging. We attempted numerous things, but they didn't work out."

"I want to make it clear that those who have been attempting to manipulate Nigerians have been doing so, but their time is running out. The people they have been exploiting are starving. Soon, they will discover who the true religious and tribal bigots are. I am not one of them. In fact, I have erected mosques as a demonstration of this. To this day, no non-Muslim governor has sent more people to Mecca than me.

"I could never declare that the election is a religious war. Because it isn't. There was a conversation, but I never stated that it was a religious war. Why would I? I am constantly surrounded by individuals."

"I and Datti, my running mate, work as brothers. We frequently discuss this and have a strong bond. It's a unique situation in Nigeria's history that we have a presidential candidate, running mate, and party chairman all born after independence. We must work together to save this country, and Datti is aware of my dedication to this goal. I cannot achieve this by promoting a religious war."