By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has defended himself against a series of allegations of misappropriation of party funds raised by the suspended National Treasurer of the party, Mrs Oluchi Oparah.
According to Abure, it was not true that the party has collected over N3.5 billion as revenue into its account as alleged by Oparah.
The Chairman stated this on Thursday, 15 February, 2024, while speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show concerning the ongoing crisis in the party.
Thegazellenews.com had reported that Oparah had accused Abure of denying her access to the party’s financial records and bank accounts.
Oparah equally demanded that Abure should render account of party funds in excess of N3.5 billion, being proceeds of sale of forms and sundry fund raisers for the 2023 general election.
According to her, the chairman had so far rejected all entreaties to open LP’s books for scrutiny since the sale of expression of interest and nomination forms closed.
As a response to the allegations, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party handed down a six-month suspension on Oparah.
The National Publicity Secretary of LP, Mr Obiora Ifoh, made this disclosure at a media briefing, saying that the suspended Treasurer is a mole who was being used by dissidents to cause disaffection in the party.
However, LP Chairman has now challenged Oparah to make available the record on how she arrived at the sum of N3.5 billion as money generated during the election.
“It’s not true that she said that the party has collected over N3 billion. I want to make it abundantly clear, we already have an audited report, made by a certified auditor of the party. The party has an external auditor who has reviewed all the records. And we have all the audited statements of accounts of the party from 2022 to 2023.
“All these records are available; the audited statement of account, I have it here.
“The total money, in summary, that entered the party account between 2022 and now is N1.3 billion; nothing more, nothing less.
“We also got N700 million, which were the campaign funds that went straight to the campaign organization for the campaigns. I didn’t know and I cannot reconcile where she got the N3.5 billion that she talked.
“I want to challenge her that she should make the record available where she arrived at the sum of N3.5bn as money generated during the election,” Abure said.
