By Adadareporters
Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, has been alleged to have kept all the funds that accrued to his campaign as against the party’s constitution.
This was disclosed by the Enugu State chairman of the party, Barr Casmir Agbo. Agbo spoke in Enugu during a programme monitored by our reporter.
Agbo said it was the hijack of such funds that made some state chairmen of LP from some northern states threaten to pull out of the party in the buildup to the 2023 presidential election.
Quoting him, “The party will meet within this month, and auditing is part of the agenda. It is not too late to conduct an audit. Peter Obi was calling for the audit of the account of the party, but he was fingered by the National Executive Council of the party because all the money that accrued to the party for his campaign was controlled by Peter Obi and his group. The party’s constitution says all finances for party elections should go into the party accounts. The party chairman is the accounting officer of the party.
“It was the problem he had with NEC. Recall that northern chairmen of the party threatened to pull out because Okupe (then Obi’s campaign DG) was withholding the finances meant for states. They revolted, and Obi intervened. We complained that the funds coming into the party campaign council had not been remitted to the party’s account, which is where the money should be disbursed so that we know how much comes in, and the expenditure. Obi confirmed it on Thursday. He was giving account of how they spent the money, and not the party. Aisha Yesufu announced it, and she is not the accounting officer of the party.
“There is no way she would come out to tell the people how they spent the money. They would have remitted the money to the party, then the party will now appoint an auditor to audit the account. They are not empowered by the party’s constitution to give the accounts. The constitution says all the accruable to the party should go into the party’s account.”
