Peter Obi Makes Clarification Amid Claims He Called for Dismantling of Church in Nigeria

• Peter Obi sparked mixed reactions among Nigerians on social media with his recent suggestion to 'convert church vigils into night shifts'
• While some commended his proposal as a means to enhance productivity, others condemned it as an infringement on religious traditions
• However, in a statement by one of his spokespersons, Ibrahim Umar, Obi refuted claims that he advocated for the dismantling of the church

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over nine years of experience covering elections, politics and governance.

FCT, Abuja - Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, has said his position on church vigils was distorted.

Legit.ng recalls that Obi stirred strong conversations on social media after saying Nigeria has to turn night vigils to night shifts so that citizens can be more productive.

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Obi made the remark during a recent video interview on The Honest Bunch podcast. A trending snippet of the interview was seen by Legit.ng.

While some commended his proposal as a means to enhance productivity, others condemned it as an infringement on religious traditions.

Obi clarifies stance on alleged 'dismantling of churches'

Making clarification via Ibrahim Umar, his media aide, Obi stated that there has been “a huge twist” in his interview.

The statement by Obi’s camp partly reads:

“The Labour Party leader is well known as a man of strong faith who has enormous respect and love for every religion and tried in the referenced interview to bring to Nigerians how religion can be more effective in their lives.

“Obi, in the interview, was merely underscoring what Apostle James said in ‘Faith without Works is unhelpful.’

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"When Obi said that he would turn night vigil into production night, he was only stressing the importance of worshipping God through work.”

Obi reacts as FG arraigns child protesters

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Obi berated the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government for arraigning minors who participated in the August 'End Bad Governance' protest before the court.

Obi pointed out that the scenes are "disturbing and condemnable" while also alleging poor treatment of the children in custody.

Source: Legit.ng