Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has raised serious concerns over ongoing attempts to undermine his reputation through impersonation and voice mimicry.
Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Obi shared a disturbing incident involving an imposter who contacted Prince Mustapha Audu, son of the late Governor Abubakar Audu of Kogi state, falsely portraying Obi’s views.
According to Obi, Mustapha confronted him at an Appeal Court session, accusing him of harbouring tribal views, allegedly based on an interaction with the imposter posing as Obi.
Addressing the distressing situation, Obi wrote: “My duplicates are still on the rampage, they now mimic my voice and call people. There is no limit to the extent people will go to cause mischief towards their targets. I have been targeted both locally and internationally.
“The latest incident happened in Abuja yesterday, 17th May at the Court of Appeal premises of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal venue, where my attention was drawn to what was going on outside the courtroom.
“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 am, but suddenly cut off the phone after I 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.
“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 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.”
