The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has called for investigations of alleged financial impropriety levelled against the chairman, Julius Abure, by the national treasurer, Oluchi Opara.
Obi spoke at a media briefing where he rendered an account of the 2023 Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organization funding, on Thursday, February 15.
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Obi said the party has commenced a process to audit the party’s finances for its activities related to the 2023 general elections.
“I don’t think I waited too long. The election was conducted in February of last year. Thereafter, we went to the litigation which ended in November, so I couldn’t have been going to court and still be talking about Labour Party account. After ending that, it was in December when we started even from all the activities of being in campaign from 2022 and then till the end of 2023,” Obi said.
He continued: “We are just in the first quarter of 2024. I don’t think this has happened before with any party in Nigeria. Tell me one. In Nigeria, we’re used to blaming those who want to do the right thing and leaving those who have been doing the wrong things over the years.
“We are now accounting immediately within the first quarter of 2024. We have just started the process. I could not have been calling auditors last year. We are not going to call them and everything.
Also speaking at the press event, Aisha Yesufu, the chairperson of the fundraising team of the campaign organisation, said over N744,500,000 was spent in courts over the 2023 presidential election.
“I’m not involved in the party accounting, I’m not part of the party management. If you know how a party functions, a party is being run by the elected executive of the party, National Working Committee, which I am not a signatory.
“Even the campaign accounts and anything, I am not a signatory to any. I am not a signatory to any group’s account. Everything is being managed. The money people gave me, I paid it to one account or the other, which is properly managed. And I assure you, we will account for everything. That is why we’re calling on every member of the public, locally and internationally, who have lead to where these billions and millions were paid into, or even to paying somebody cash.
“People showed support to us more in kind than in cash because we have people who paid for logistics, transport, and flights.
“For the Labour (Party) own, I have told how we are going to solve it, we are not going to solve it by saying ‘he said, she said’. We now have an independent person who would tell us which way forward.”
Yesufu disclosed that the campaign organization received donations totaling N595,976,994.
“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 N8,000,000 from the candidate himself (Peter Obi),” Yesufu said.
“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. 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 added.
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