Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Mr. Peter Obi has demanded an investigation into allegations that Barr Julius Abure, the party’s national chairman, misappropriated N3 billion out of the N3.5 billion collected for the general elections in 2023.
The alleged financial wrongdoing against Abure must be investigated, according to Obi.
Abure was suspended on Wednesday for failing to appear before a disciplinary committee following Monday’s accusation by the LP national treasurer, Mrs. Oluchi Oparah, that she had stolen N3 billion out of the N3.5 billion collected for the 2023 election campaigns.
The invitation for her appearance on Wednesday at 10am arrived Tuesday night, and she was suspended by 12pm the same day after missing her travel to Abuja, according to Oparah, who told LEADERSHIP on Friday that her suspension had been planned.
Obi stated yesterday during a news conference in Abuja that the 2023 Obi-Datti presidential campaign
The funding of campaign organizations has to be examined.
I am a member of the party (LP), and they have chosen to say that I am the leader,” he stated. I have already spoken with the party’s upper management on the requirement of selecting a trustworthy auditing firm to handle the party’s financial records.
All financial dealings in which I am involved must be open and honest. “We need to investigate and verify all of the allegations and counter-allegations so that we can reconcile them and know exactly what to do,” Obi stated.
Report on Election Expenditure by the Obi-Datti Campaign
In addition, Aisha Yesufu, a member of the campaign council and the former chairperson of the fundraising team, said that the organization spent more than N744.5 million on legal battles during the 2023 presidential campaign.
Donations of N595,976,994 were received by the party, according to her.
The reason we requested donations was so that we could return to the donors and explain the prudent use of their money, which is why accountability and openness are crucial and necessary. Anyone who contributed financially or in kind is much appreciated. We were able to collect N595,976,994 from the generous citizens. This is the sum total of the four accounts we discussed earlier. The candidate, Peter Obi, also gave us N800,000,000 (N800m).
“We devised a plan of action that aimed to direct the momentum of the movement toward various support organizations for Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed. Throughout Nigeria’s 36 states, we helped more than a hundred support groups, both directly and indirectly. Through community outreach, social media, and 40 radio stations, we were able to launch media-related campaigns that reached more than 11 million people.
She claims that budgetary restraints prevented the campaign team from using televisions, despite their desire to do so.