Hold Yesufu, Ighodalo Responsible For Obi’s Campaign Funds, Not Me — Abure

The embattled National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has vehemently denied allegations of mismanaging the party’s funds during the 2023 general election.

Instead, he claimed that Aisha Yesufu and Pastor Itua Ighodalo, staunch supporters of the party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi, were responsible for managing the campaign funds.

Abure made this revelation during a press briefing after the party’s National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja on Monday.

He stated that the party never had access to the accounts opened for donations to support Obi’s candidacy, as Yesufu and Ighodalo were the signatories to the accounts.

“The party was never involved in the distribution of those resources. Our interest was to see how we could produce a president for the party. How it was done was not our concern. Hence, we gave them free rein. We allowed them to entrust their resources to whomever they wanted. We followed them loyally by allowing them to administer the campaign funds,” Abure explained.

He further clarified that the party did not handle campaign donations, which were channelled to accounts opened for campaign purposes, with Yesufu and Ighodalo as the signatories.

Abure added that the duo was also responsible for payments to polling unit agents.

Abure’s denial comes amidst allegations of financial mismanagement within the party and his announcement that the party’s presidential ticket for the 2027 election is no longer reserved for Obi, but is now open to all members.

In a related development, Abure ruled out an automatic second-term ticket for Abia State Governor Alex Otti, stating that the seat will be open to other aspirants.

He also declared that Otti does not have the power to convene a stakeholders’ meeting that produced a caretaker committee led by former Senator Nenadi Usman, citing the party’s constitution.