Obi To Conduct  Thorough Investigation Of Corruption Charge In LP

The National leader of the Labour Party and presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 general poll, Peter Obi, has said the party would appoint a reputable audit firm to deal with the corruption charge against the National Chairman, Julius Abure, by the National Treasurer, Ms. Oluchi Oparah.

Following his presentation of the financing of the 2023 Obi-Datti Presidential campaign organization at a press briefing, Obi stated that a comprehensive investigation was necessary into the accusations and counter-allegations.

Oparah, who first raised the alarm about corruption, was slapped with a six-month suspension by the LP’s National Working Committee (NWC), which announced this during a news conference on Wednesday.

Oparah, however, has stated that she will fight the suspension in court, claiming that the NWC’s action was premeditated, particularly the part played by those who made the decision, knowing full well that she was not in Abuja to meet the panel appearance deadline of less than twelve hours after she was purportedly kicked off the group’s WhatsApp platform.

This was in response to her Monday accusation that Abure had squandered N3.5 billion obtained through the fundraising efforts and sale of nomination forms leading up to the general election of 2023.

However, Obi, while speaking, said, “For the party, I am a member of the party and they have chosen to say that I am the leader. What we need to do in the party and I have discussed it with the leadership is that we must now appoint a reputable audit firm to audit and be able to deal with the account of the part.

“When I am involved in money, it must be transparent. So, the allegations and counter allegations now must be thoroughly investigated and verified and we would reconcile it and know what exactly to do.”

In an effort to hold people who provided financing for the campaign—for which they were thankful—responsible, Obi made a plea to support organizations, individuals, and political parties.

This, he said, was “Because there are some people, like support groups, there are some people even abroad, who collected monies that they are going to use it in the north and everywhere.

“We were not stringent that everything you collect must come to us, but we want whatever is collected to be accounted for. This is why we are appealing to the public to let us know.”