LABOUR Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi has said unknown persons are cloning his voice to make mischievous phone calls in a bid to tarnish his reputation.
Obi said this on Thursday, May 18, in a series of tweets on his official Twitter account.
The former governor of Anambra State added that he had been a target of impostors both locally and internationally.
“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,” Obi said.
He said the latest incident occured in Abuja on Tuesday, May 17, at the premises of the Court of Appeal, where the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal is sitting.
“A report came to me while I was seated in court 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 – castigating and talking down on me, describing me as an ethnic and religious bigot.
“He claimed that I called him while I was in front of his office on Tuesday morning at about 11 a.m. but suddenly cut off the phone after I spoke Igbo, and he, Audu, was unable to respond.
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
“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.
“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.”
Obi said he introduced himself to Audu 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 Nice, in France, for a meeting.”
He said he went to London for another meeting and only arrived in Abuja on Tuesday, so there is no way he could have been the one referred to.
“I only flew into the country this morning for this court session,” he told Audu.
Obi added that he also visited Dele Momodu in London to felicitate with him on his 63rd birthday.
“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 tweeted.
In April, The ICIR reported that the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Office said Obi was questioned by Immigration officers at Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom (UK).
According to a statement released by the Head of Media of the Obi-Datti Campaign, Diran Onifade, on Wednesday, April 12, Obi was detained and interrogated for hours by Immigration officials over offences allegedly committed by an impostor.
According to the Campaign Council, Obi’s impersonator may commit some offences that might result in his arrest in the UK.
Addressing the matter in May, Obi explained that he was neither arrested nor detained in the UK for any offence.
Obi noted that he was pulled aside for a routine check to alert him of the impersonation of his Visa to the UK.
However, there was drama at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday, May 17, as Labour Party factions clashed during the pre-hearing of the appeal filed by Obi against President-elect Bola Tinubu.
The faction led by the suspended national chairman, Julius Abure, produced Obi as the presidential candidate, and there are speculations that the camp headed by acting national chairman Lamidi Apapa plans to withdraw the party’s petition before the Tribunal.
The clash on Wednesday was between the acting national chairman, Apapa, and Akin Osuntokun, the director general of the party’s presidential campaign committee.
Shortly after, the petition was postponed to Friday, May 19, for the pre-hearing session by the five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani.
The ICIR reported that Obi came third in the 2023 presidential election but is currently challenging the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in court.
A reporter with the ICIR
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