The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has explained his choice of silence with regard the financial impropriety running into N3.5bn levelled at the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure.
Suspended National Treasurer of Labour Party, Oluchi Opara had made a searing indictment against Abure, accusing him of misappropriating the said sum and desired his prosecution.
The allegation drew mixed reactions within and outside the party but not that of its Presidential candidate.
Obi, unusually, has remained mute concerning the issue.
Speaking at a discussion hosted by Parallel Facts on Saturday on X (formerly Twitter), the ex-Anambra State governor said his silence is because auditors are looking at the party’s book.
According to him, “It is because we have written to a competent, qualified auditor to audit the accounts of the Labour Party and our campaign.”
He also voiced concern about the party’s controversial convention, “We promised to build Nigeria; we did not promise to build a New Labour Party. When the chairman approached me about the convention, I appealed to him to consult all stakeholders, starting from Governor (Alex) Otti, Vice Presidential Candidate (Yusuf) Datti, to Senators, House of Reps members, gubernatorial candidates, and all other groups, for us to have NLC, TUC.
“It is documented for us to have a properly organized convention, starting with congresses, because we have to organize ourselves at the grassroots, where we have problems. It is after we organize ourselves that we can go into the convention.”
