Kelvin Bowoto
Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party‘s (LP) presidential candidate, has called for an investigation into the party’s national chairman, Barr Julius Abure, for allegedly squandering N3 billion of the N3.5 billion raised for the 2023 general elections. Obi stated that the allegations of financial misconduct against Abure must be investigated.
Mrs. Oluchi Oparah, the LP’s national treasurer, accused Abure on Monday of misappropriating N3 billion of the N3.5 billion raised for the 2023 election campaigns, an allegation for which she was banned on Wednesday for failing to appear before a disciplinary committee.
Obi stated Wednesday in Abuja at a media event that the account of the 2023 Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign organization’s funding must be scrutinized. He stated, “I am a member of the party (LP), and they have chosen to refer to me as the leader. What we need to do in the party, and I’ve addressed it with the leadership, is to hire a respectable audit firm to audit and handle the accounts of the party. When I am involved in anything, I must be open about my financial dealings. So the claims and counter-allegations must now be thoroughly researched and validated, and we will reconcile everything and know exactly what to do,” Obi stated.
Obi-Datti Campaign Provides Account of Election Spending
In addition, one of the campaign council members, Aisha Yesufu, who was the chairperson of the fundraising team, stated that it spent approximately N744.5 million on litigation in court during the 2023 presidential election.
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She also stated that the party received donations worth N595,976,994 from Nigerians.
“Accountability and openness are crucial and important, which is why we requested individuals to donate so that we could return to them and explain how their money was wisely spent. We appreciate everyone who contributed cash and kindness. Citizens’ donations totaled N595,976,994. This is the money we raised from the four accounts mentioned earlier. We also received N800,000,000 (N800 million) from the candidate, Peter Obi.
“We created a strategic blueprint aimed at channeling movement energy and support for Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed through various support organizations. We offered direct and indirect assistance to more than a hundred support groups in all 36 states of Nigeria. We also launched media campaigns that reached over 11 million people by utilizing over 40 radio stations, community outreach, and social media.”
According to her, the campaign team would have liked to use televisions but was hampered by cost restrictions.
She went on to say, “We were careful about how we spent the money we received. So, campaign materials costing N258,374,330.00 were acquired and distributed across the 36 states, as well as in Abuja. Media and radio broadcasting were at the cost of N16,432,867.
“The election promotion expenses totaled N10,808,948.00. For polling unit agents, we spent N324,381,700.00. Of course, we had bank charges of N1,750,544. We also incurred administrative fees of N477,000.00. We allocated N744,500,000 to pay legal fees. Then, we spent more than N28,500,000 on campaign and election operations. Regarding legal bills, remember what I mentioned earlier: We have N800,000,000 that the candidate presented,” Yesufu stated.
Techrectory with Agency Report.
