Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has addressed the incident involving his supposedly missing mobile phones at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja on Tuesday. His media aide, Tai Obasi, informed our correspondent that the phones were not stolen but were instead with one of Obi’s aides for safekeeping.
Videos and memes of the former governor of Anambra State searching for his phones at the tribunal circulated in the media, leading many to assume that they were stolen while he was exchanging pleasantries with party supporters.
However, Obasi refuted the reports, asserting that the phones were never stolen. He explained that it is natural for someone to search for an item they believe is misplaced.
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The incident occurred when Obi’s aide, who usually accompanies him, observed that numerous people were approaching to greet him, causing Obi to momentarily forget about his phone. To ensure its safety, the aide took charge of keeping the phone on the table in front of them.
When the aide left momentarily to use the restroom, Obi began searching for his phone without realizing that it was in his aide’s care. The drama lasted for less than two minutes before the aide returned with the phone. Unfortunately, during the brief period of anxiety over the missing phone, someone captured the incident on video, which subsequently went viral.
Obasi clarified that the viral clip only captured the part where Obi was looking for the phone, leading to the misunderstanding. The video started circulating even before they left the court.
Regarding the negative trending of the video, Obasi mentioned that they were not surprised by it, given the tendency of such incidents to spread rapidly in today’s social media landscape.
