Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the just concluded general election, Peter Obi has raised an alarm of some unknown persons duplicating his identity and mimicking his voice to cause mischief.
Obi said he has been a target of impersonation both locally and internationally.
He stated this in a lengthy post on his official Twitter handle on Thursday in reaction to an incident that happened in Abuja on the 17th of May at the Court of Appeal premises of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal venue.
According to him, while he was seated in the court, a report came to him that one Prince Mustapha Audu, son of the late Governor of Kogi state, held the OBIdient’s Chief Spokesman, Dr. Yunusa Tanko and some others spellbound.
He said Prince Audu was castigating and talking down on him, describing him as an ethnic and religious bigot.
The former Anambra governor revealed that Prince Audu claimed that he called him while he was in front of his office on Tuesday morning at about 11 am, but suddenly cut off the phone after Obi spoke Igbo and he, Audu was unable to respond.
“According to him, Obi may have only helped to empower some businessmen strictly because they were Igbos, and he wondered why Obi should aspire to lead the country if he cannot accommodate other ethnic groups,” Obi said.
“It was one of my aides who quickly alerted me on what was going on and I pleaded with him to go outside and tell the OBIdients who were with the man to kindly delay him until I come out of the courtroom. After the court proceedings, I met with Audu and he repeated the same story, adding that he was angry at me for cutting off the phone on him because he could not speak Igbo. He insisted that I was in front of his office in Abuja when I called.
“I then introduced myself again to him and told him, “My brother, I did not call you, and I couldn’t have been in front of your office on Tuesday because I was not in Abuja, and not even in the country.
“At about the time you alleged that I called you, I was arriving in Nice in France for a meeting. By the evening of the same day, I flew to London for another meeting and in fact, had to breeze in to felicitate with my dear elder brother, Dele Momodu on his 63rd birthday.
“I only flew into the country this morning for this court session” The young man, looking embarrassed and surprised at the same time added that the voice of the caller and everything sounded like mine. We exchanged pleasantries and took pictures.”
Obi noted that the incident was just one of the many desperate efforts to run him down and tag me as what he is not, with the intention to gain some perceived political mileage against him.
He added that ordinarily, he is not scared or worried about competitions provided they are within the legitimate rules of engagement, but “going this far is worrisome.”
The LP presidential candidate further said, “It is quite very worrisome because this is certainly not the right way to develop a nation that is in dire need of positive changes that will enable her to join the League of Nations that are moving forward.”
My duplicates are still on the rampage, they now mimic my voice and call people. There is no limit that people cannot go to cause mischief on their target. I have been a target both locally and internationally. pic.twitter.com/RW0qXdwgh9
— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) May 18, 2023
Recall that Obi was recently in the news after his phone conversation with Bishop David Oyedepo was leaked online.
In the conversation, Obi was reportedly heard saying the 2023 general election was a religious war.
In other news, Kanyi Daily reported that a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital has issued a bench warrant against a former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Tonye Cole.
