Obi Debunks Receiving $150 million Campaign Donation

Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, denied on Tuesday that sources in the diaspora had donated $150 million to his campaign.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was requested by a group operating under the Tinubu-Shettima Connect banner to disqualify Obi for the purported donation, which they claimed violated the Electoral Act regarding campaign spending.

The former governor of Anambra state, however, claimed that the charges were simply speculative while speaking with Nigerians in London.

“Nobody has given me anything,” he said. “That is speculation. What I need is not what they would give me. But what they would provide Nigeria, because we need them to turn around Nigeria.

“This is the energy, the capacity that we need to turn around Nigeria. Every country that was turned around was done by the diaspora. Even in the Bible, Joseph, who left later, came back to feed his people.”

Obi has recently travelled around Europe and the United States to meet with Nigerians worldwide. He claimed that his meetings had nothing to do with his campaign.

“It is not campaign, it is consultation,” he said. “I am consulting Nigerian diasporans to know why they should be involved in the electoral process. And you can see from my conversation that everything I am doing is saying, let’s get involved.

“They are the most critical components of turning around Nigeria. The investment Nigeria needs to turn around is diasporans. If they believe in Nigeria and bring their resources, both in terms of their material, talent and energy, we will turn around the country.”

Obi, who has a lot of young Nigerians’ backing, asked for the 2023 elections to be decided on candidates’ merits.

“Nigeria 2023 election should not be based on ethnicity, religion, connection, ‘my turn’, or any bias,” he said. “It must be on character, competence, capacity and determination to deal with the problems of Nigeria.”