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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, has demanded a thorough investigation into allegations of financial misappropriation levelled against the national chairman of the party, Barr Julius Abure.
Obi made the call at a media briefing where he rendered account of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organisation funding, on Thursday.
“For the party (Labour Party), I am a member 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 accounting part.
“When I am involved in money, 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 to do,” Obi said.
Recall that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Labour Party had slammed a six-month suspension on its estranged National Treasurer, Oluchi Opara.
The NWC made the announcement through the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, during a press conference at the party secretariat in Abuja, on Wednesday.
Opara, however, said that she would challenge the suspension in court, adding that the NWC’s action was premeditated.
She added that those who took the action knew she was not in Abuja and could not meet the less than 12-hour deadline they gave her to appear before a panel after removing her from the executive WhatsApp platform.
Opara had on Monday accused the Labour Party National Chairman, Abure, of mismanaging N3.5 billion raised from the sale of nomination forms and fundraising activities in the build-up to the 2023 general election.
Also, while speaking on Arise TV’s ‘Good Morning Show’ on Tuesday, Opara claimed that the Abure-led NWC is working hand-in-hand with the Edo State Government, which is governed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
However, at Wednesday’s media briefing, Ifoh described Opara as a mole who was being used by dissidents to cause disaffection in the party.
He said the party decided to sanction her after she failed to honour an invitation by the NWC to resolve the crisis.
At the Thursday’s briefing, Obi appealed to various support groups, individuals and parties that received donations to support the campaign to account for the money they received.
“Because there are some people, like support groups, there are some people even abroad who collected money that they are going to use it in the North and everywhere. We were not stringent that everything you collect must come to us, but we want whatever is collected to be accounted for. This is why we are appealing to the public to let us know,” the presidential candidate added.
We spent N744.5m on litigation, received N595.9m from Nigerians -Aisha Yesufu
Also speaking at pres briefing, Mrs Aisha Yesufu, the Chairman of the Fundraising Team of the Campaign Organisation, said it spent over N744,500,000.00 on litigation in courts over the 2023 presidential election.
She also said that it received donations totaling N595,976,994.00.
“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 100 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. We deployed N744,500,000.00 to cover legal expenses. And then, in campaign and election activities, we had over N28,500,000.00. On the issue of legal fees, remember what I said earlier: We had N800,000,000.00 that the candidate himself brought,” Yesufu said.