OBI DEMANDS PROBE OF ALLEGED N3.5Bn SCANDAL, AS HE GIVE ACCOUNT OF COMPAIGN FUNDS

Labour party (LP)Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi says he practices transparency in all dealings including when money is involved.

Obi has therefore, demanded a thorough investigation into the alleged financial impropriety in the Labour Party.

The accusation is are multifaceted with fingers pointed against the LP National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure.

In January 2024, a chieftain of LP, Faduri Joseph had asked Obi to account for the campaign funds received during the 2023 Presidential Elections.

Following that, on Wednesday, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the LP had addressed a press conference in Abuja.

At that event, NWC announced a six-month suspension slammed on its embattled National Treasurer, Mrs. Oluchi Oparah.

However, in a twist of event, Oparah, on her part, went on to accuse the LP National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure, of mismanaging N3.5bn.

The said money was raised from the sale of nomination forms and fundraising activities in the build-up to the 2023 general election.

But as part of measure to address the issue, LP presidential candidate, Obi, on Thursday, at a media briefing, rendered account of revenue and expenditure made by the 2023 Obi-Datti Presidential campaign organisation.

“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 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.”

“Because there are some people, like support groups, there are some people even abroad who collected monies 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.”

We spent N744.5m on litigation, received N595.9m from Nigerians -Aisha Yesufu

Also at the media briefing was the Chairman of the Fundraising Team of the Campaign Organisation, Mrs Aisha Yesufu.

She said they spent over N744,500,000.00 on litigation in courts over the 2023 presidential election while they 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 N8,000,000 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. 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.