Popular US-Nigerian columnist, Professor Farooq Kperogi, has said that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, “cannot conceivably win a (legal) case against the Peoples Gazette”.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Obi on Wednesday said the viral audio call published by the media platform, Peoples Gazette, featuring him and Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of Winners Chapel, is fake.
The Labour Party candidate said his legal team would take appropriate legal action on the matter.
But writing on Saturday in his weekly column, Kperogi stated that the former Anambra State governor was only trying to save his face.
Kperogi wrote: “In libel law, truth is the most important defense. The tape is NOT fake, so Obi can’t conceivably win a case against the Peoples Gazette.
“I personally used multiple deepfake detection software and found no evidence that the audio was edited or generated by Artificial Intelligence.
“Plus, Obi’s presidential campaign spokesperson by the name of Kenneth Okonkwo confirmed the authenticity of the tape and even retorted that “Honesty is the best policy” when he was unremittingly bullyragged by the headless mob of revoltingly primitive social media rapscallions who call themselves “Obidients.”
“Obi’s close personal media aide by the name of Valentine Obienyem also all but confirmed the genuineness of the tape and only added the requisite fib that spokesmen of Nigerian politicians must tell by claiming that “They edited out the Muslim-Muslim ticket that led to the discussion, where Obi said that in a society like ours, religious balancing was a necessary consideration and that their recklessness had made Christians to assume it was a religious war.”
“That’s the most persuasive admission yet that the tape is real.”
The Professor added: “Well, Oyedepo himself hasn’t questioned the veracity of the tape. He only said Obi was one of several politicians who routinely call to seek his blessing and counsel and that he is not a political partisan. Maybe, he is also part of the “others” that Obi will sue. He basically confirmed the Peoples Gazette’s story.
“What will Obi tell the courts if/when he sues Peoples Gazette “and others”? If he says the tape is fake and Peoples Gazette insists that it isn’t, the court will call IT experts to authenticate it.
“The result will embarrass Obi, diminish his credibility irretrievably, and herald the death knell of his budding national political career.”
