A Chieftain of the Labour Party, Faduri Joseph has asked the Presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi, to account for the campaign funds received during the 2023 Presidential Elections.
The PUNCH reported that ahead of the 2023 presidential election which was held on February 25, 2023, the Labour Party standard bearer had launched an official website to promote his campaign and solicit funds ahead of the poll.
In a major crowdfunding, Nigerians in the diaspora moved to raise $150m from Obi’s supporters in the diaspora, and N100bn from those in Nigeria.
The LP presidential candidate, however, lost the poll to APC Presidential candidate, President Bola Tinubu.
Joseph, a former presidential aspirant of Labour Party, in an open letter to the leadership of the party on the 2023 election, obtained by The PUNCH through his media Director, Rev. Emmanuel Olorunmagba, in Kaduna on Friday, said Obi rendering account of the campaign funds was a sign of good leadership.
He said, “Since many Nigerians all around the world supported the Labour Party and its presidential candidate financially, by now one would have expected the party and most importantly the presidential candidate in the person of Peter Obi to release the report of the support the party got from many Nigerians both home and abroad. How much we received and spent, and what we have left; if any, to plan for the next election.
“It is imperative to sit down and look through the lenses of 2023 and see what we did wrong. Where we lack strength and how to work on these lapses for future elections because if we don’t look and examine inwardly, how we got it wrong in the 2023 election, then we will repeat the same mistakes in future elections and get the same result.
“Our candidate cannot claim to be an alternative to corruption but refused to come out clean to Nigerians and the party of how much kindhearted Nigerians donated, both home and abroad to support the movement and the new Nigeria agenda for the world to trust and believe us next time.”
When contacted for reaction, the Spokesman of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, told The PUNCH on Saturday the so-called party chieftain was unknown to LP.
According to the spokesman, the total expenditure during the 2023 presidential elections would be rendered to the Independent National Electoral Commission and the public.
Tanko said, “We don’t even know him neither did he contested in the primary election which I was a member of the electoral panel.
“Therefore, he has no locus standi and in any case the total expenditure just like any Presidential Candidate will be presented to INEC and the public accordingly.”
