The Presidential candidate of Labour Party during the February 25 presidential election, Peter Obi, has distanced himself and his supporters from online attacks on the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
Adeboye was attacked on social media on Monday, May 8, after reports claimed he declared his support for President-elect, Bola Tinubu. Online reports claimed that the clergyman while speaking during a sermon on Sunday, May 7, declared that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, can fix Nigeria with God’s help.
In a series of tweets post on his handle, Obi stated that some people were masquerading as Obidients to carry out the attacks on the clergyman.
“The use of subterfuge by people masquerading as Obidients to abuse and insult eminent personalities like Most Reverend Pastor Enoch Adeboye or anyone else is most unacceptable. Obidients are by and large, law-abiding citizens.
While differences of opinion are normal, calculated efforts to create ethnic or religious chasm all in the name of politics should not in any way be tolerated. As a person, I eschew name-calling, insults, and abuses, likewise most of my supporters.
The suggestion that some in the fringes engage in such conduct casually overlooks the fact that the political opposition deploys such methods to gain undue advantage and create confusion and bad blood.”
In a related development, the Head of the Obi-Datti media office, Diran Onifade, released a statement today May 10, distancing Obi and members of the Obidients movement from the social media attacks on the pastor.
The statement reads
“Our attention has been drawn to yet another campaign of calumny emanating from opposition ranks, this time blaming ‘Obidients’ for recent unjustified social media attacks on the revered General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
We wish to state categorically that supporters of Mr Peter Obi, like their Principal, have great respect for Pastor Adeboye, indeed every responsible and respectable Nigerian, and therefore are not involved in any social media hounding of the revered man of God most especially over a statement he did not make.
It has become a pattern for desperate political operatives to orchestrate a ruse and blame it on Peter Obi’s supporters in furtherance of the opposition’s subterfuge strategy which has failed back to back.
We wish to appeal to fellow Nigerians to ignore the antics of election riggers who believe that demarketing Peter Obi is their sure means of keeping a stolen mandate.
Nigerians are aware by now that issuing personal insults is not Peter Obi’s character and he does not encourage his followers to engage in the same.”
