5 controversies courted by Peter Obi of the Labour Party

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, may be loved by many, but he isn't without his own blemishes.

Legit.ng reports that Nigeria’s third-placed presidential candidate — who galvanised the youth vote and received about 6 million votes, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) — has been in the public eye for the last 16 years.

The much-loved Mr. Peter Obi is not without his own controversies.

Below are some of the unsavoury situations linked to the former Anambra state governor:

1) Peter Obi's alleged anti-denominational posture

Obi, a practicing Catholic, allegedly discriminated against other Christians while he was in office as Governor of Anambra state (March to November 2006, February to May 2007, and June 2007 to March 2014).

Critics alleged that Obi’s tenure in office as Governor unleashed Catholic fanaticism that saw persons who were not of his sectarian persuasion being treated as less than second-class citizens.

But Obi has challenged his critics to provide incontrovertible evidence of his alleged religious bigotry.

2) "Yes Daddy": Obi's 'religious war' phone call with Bishop Oyedepo

In April 2023, a telephone conversation between Obi and Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, was leaked to the public by an online media platform, People’s Gazette.

In the audio clip, Obi asked Oyedepo to help spread his message to Christians in the South-west and parts of North-central. Addressing the cleric as “daddy”, the LP’s standard-bearer told Oyedepo that the February presidential election was a “religious war.”

The report generated widespread controversy across the country, with some members of his campaign organisation confirming the authenticity of the phone call and defending his position, while other members declared the phone record as a deep fake.

On April 5, 2023, Peter Obi, via his official Twitter page, declared that the published audio was fake and threatened to take legal action against the online newspaper.

3) Peter Obi's UK immigration controversy

Obi’s associates had raised the alarm over his delay at Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom (UK), by immigration officers over a case of alleged identity duplication.

On April 12, LP announced that Obi was harassed and detained at Heathrow Airport in London over alleged impersonation, The Cable reported. The party said Obi was questioned for a “long time” and that it took the intervention of Nigerians for him to be released.

Obi later addressed the issue while speaking during a Twitter space. Noting that the incident had taught him to be careful, following the possible threat to his personality, Obi disclosed that the alleged attempt to clone his identity began in Nigeria.

4) Peter Obi: Pandora Papers

Despite his standing as an advocate of good governance, a 2021 investigation into some secret businesses of prominent persons across the globe, revealed that Obi broke the law several times.

The investigation was part of the global International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)-led Pandora Papers project. The exposé revealed that Obi has several secret business dealings and relationships in addition to some which he clandestinely set up and operated overseas, including in 'notorious' tax and secrecy havens in ways that breached Nigerian laws.

When Premium Times contacted Obi, he was said to have admitted that he did not declare these companies and the funds and properties they hold in his asset declaration filings with the Code of Conduct Bureau.

He claimed he was unaware that the law expected him to declare assets or companies he jointly owns with his family members or anyone else.

5) “Go and verify”: Spewing incorrect statistics

Obi has been severally criticised for his alleged penchant for quoting wrong statistics. He reels out confidently and asks people to “go and verify”, but it has emerged that some – if not many – are distorted.