Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has urged for a thorough investigation into the alleged financial misconduct accusations against the National Chairman of the Party, Comrade Julius Abure.
Obi made this call during a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday, where he also provided an update on the activities of the 2023 Obi-Datti presidential campaign organization.
He said, “For the party (LP), I am a member of the party, and they have chosen to say that I am the leader.
“What we need to do in the party, and I have discussed it with the leadership, is that we must now appoint a reputable audit firm to audit and be able to deal with the account of the party.
“When I am involved in, anywhere money is it must be transparent. So the allegations and counter allegations now must be thoroughly investigated and verified and we would reconcile it and know what exactly what we do.”
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the LP suspended its National Treasurer, Mrs. Oluchi Oparah, for six months due to allegations of tarnishing the party’s reputation.
Oparah plans to challenge her suspension in court, claiming that the NWC’s actions were planned because she was not in Abuja when they gave her less than 12 hours to appear before a hastily formed panel.
Oparah accused LP National Chairman, comrade Julius Abure, of mishandling N3.5bn raised from the sale of nomination forms and fundraising activities for the 2023 general election.
She also appeared on Arise Television’s ‘Good Morning Show’ and alleged that the Abure-led NWC was collaborating with the Edo State Government and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in preparation for the September 2024 Governorship polls.
Aisha Yesufu, the Chairman of the Fund Raising Team for the Obi-Datti Campaign Organization, provided a report on the funds raised and spent during the campaign.
She stated that a sum of N595,976,994.00 was received as donations from Nigerians. However, she also mentioned that there were legal disputes amounting to over N744,500,000.00 related to the 2023 presidential election.
Yesufu said, “Accountability and transparency are very critical and important; that is why we asked people to donate so that we could come back to them to explain how their money was judiciously used.
“ We thank everyone who donated in cash and kindness. From the donations from citizens, we received N595,976,994.
“This is the money we raised from the four accounts that we have talked about. We also received N800, 000,000 from the candidate himself (Peter Obi).
“We designed a strategic blueprint focused on channeling the movement energy and support for Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed with different support groups.
“We provided direct and indirect support to over a hundred support groups across all 36 states in Nigeria. We also deployed media-related campaigns that reached over 11 million people, leveraging over 40 radio stations, community outreach, and social media.
“We would have loved to use televisions and all of that, but because of our financial constraints, we were mindful of being judicious in our usage of the funds that we received.
“So, out of these things, campaign materials worth N258,374,330.00 were procured and distributed across the 36 States and also in Abuja. Media and radio broadcasting was at the cost of N16,432,867.00.
“For the election promotion expenses, we had N10,808,948.00. For Polling Unit Agents, we spent N324,381,700.00. And then, of course, we had bank charges of N1,750,544.00. We also had administrative charges of N477,000.00.”
