On Thursday, Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the Labour Party, defended himself against several accusations made by the party’s struggling National Treasurer about the theft of party finances.
The party has not received over N3.5 billion in revenue into its account, according to Abure.
During Thursday’s Arise Television Morning Show, the Chairman answered questions about the party’s ongoing problem.
According to reports, Abure denied Mrs. Oluchi Oparah, the suspended party treasurer, access to the party’s bank accounts and financial data.
In addition, Oparah insisted that Abure provide an accounting of party monies exceeding N3.5 billion, which came from the sale of forms and other fund-raising activities for the general election in 2023.
As of the closing of the expression of interest and nomination forms sales, she said that the chairman had turned down every request to examine LP’s records.
The Labour Party’s National Working Committee (NWC) harshly imposed a six-month suspension on Oparah in reaction to the accusations.
In a media briefing, LP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Obiora Ifoh, revealed this, claiming that the suspended Treasurer is a mole who is being utilized by opponents to sow discord inside the party.
Abure, though, has now issued a challenge to Oparah, demanding that she produce the documentation demonstrating how she calculated the N3.5 billion in election-related revenue.
He said, “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.”
