The Labour Party presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, on Thursday said the party will give a transparent account of funds realised during the campaign process.
Obi stated this during a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, amid the fresh crisis that has rocked the party over sales of forms and other fundraising activities for the 2023 general elections in the country.
On Monday, the LP’s National Treasurer, Oluchi Opara, asked the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, to account for N3.5bn raised from the sale of nomination forms and fundraising activities in the build-up to the 2023 general elections.
But addressing journalists in the party’s secretariat, Obi said as the leader of the party, he will ensure that the LP hires a reputable audit firm to audit the finances of the party.
He said the allegations and counter-allegations in the party must be thoroughly investigated and reconciled.
“I have told everybody that whatever we receive directly or indirectly will be accounted for transparently. For the party, I am a member of the party and they have chosen to say I am the leader,” he said.
“What we need to do in the party as I have discussed with the leadership is that we must now appoint a reputable audit firm to audit and be able to deal with the accounting of the party.
“When I am involved in anywhere money is, it must be transparently utilised. So there is the allegation and counter-allegation now that must be thoroughly investigated and verified. We will reconcile it and know exactly what we are doing.
“What we are doing here is accounting for the campaign. I am using the opportunity also to appeal to various support groups or individuals and parties that received some form of funding to support what we are doing which we are very grateful,” he stated.
Obi refuted claims that the campaign received $150 million, asserting that funds from the diaspora amounted to less than 1% of that figure. He also clarified that some of the received funds were converted to naira and handed over to Aisha Yesufu, the Team Lead for the campaign’s crowdfunding efforts. Obi’s statement aims to set the record straight, emphasizing the transparent handling of funds and challenging the accuracy of the initial allegations
In Peter Obi’s words: “They said we received $150m, all the funds received from diaspora is not even up to 1% of that. And some of it is part of what has been exchanged and given to Aisha Yesufu”.
Litigation
After the election, the LP spent went to court after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the then All Progressives Congress (INEC) candidate Bola Tinubu as the winner of the election.
However, Nigerians have not been briefed of how much the party spent in hiring lawyers and pursing its legal cases from the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) all through the Supreme Court.
During Thursday’s briefing, the Obi/Baba-Ahmed Presidential Campaign Organisation disclosed that it spent over N744,500,000 in litigation in courts over the 2023 presidential election.
The Chairman of the Fundraising Team of the Campaign Organisation, Aisha Yesufu, who disclosed this, also stated that the LP received donations totalling N595,976,994.00 from Nigerians.
“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 N8,000,00.00 from the candidate himself (Peter Obi),” she said.
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