The Federal Government has challenged Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi to clarify his position on a leaked recording of a discussion he purportedly had with Living Faith Church Worldwide founder Bishop David Oyedepo.

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

“I need to draw Nigerians’ attention to the recently leaked audio of a conversation between the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the cleric.”

“We heard Obi pleading with the cleric to intervene on his behalf to convince Christians that this is a religious war and they should support him,” he added of the leaked tape.

According to the minister, in the aftermath of the released recording, Obi stated that it was “a fake, doctored audio call.”

“If it’s fake, it means it never happened,” the minister explained. However, if it has been doctored, it means that the dialogue occurred but was distorted.

“Obi needs to come out and clarify whether the discussion did not occur or whether it did occur but was doctored.

“If it was doctored, which parts were doctored?”

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

According to Mohammed, the leaked recording confirmed Obi’s electioneering campaign was based on religion and ethnicity.

He claimed that this was the first time in Nigerian electoral history that a politician openly campaigned on the basis of religion and ethnicity.

“According to the results of the presidential elections, Obi received the majority of his votes from the areas where he grew up and from people who shared his religious beliefs.”

“This is not good for Nigerian politics and is extremely dangerous.”

“As a result of this type of campaign, Nigeria is more divided than ever, with people making comments based on their religious beliefs or ethnic origin.”

“Many otherwise respected commentators are not oblivious to the impact of this divisive politics,” he remarked.

According to an internet site, the audio tape was an alleged conversation between Obi and the head of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo.

Speaking about his trip to London, the minister stated that it was to defend the legality of the just finished general elections and to address the imbalance in the skewed narrative that had dominated the airwaves.

He stated that, as he did recently in Washington, he will inform the world that the 2023 election would be the freest in Nigerian history.

According to reports, the minister is set to speak with foreign media organizations and relevant think tanks in London.