N3.5bn fraud: Ex-LP treasurer accuses Abure of bribery
The leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party has taken a new twist following another allegation by the former National Treasurer of the party, Oluchi Oparah.
Oparah said the LP National Chairman, Julius Abure, attempted to induce her with a car and house in Abuja to cover his tracks in the infamous N3.5bn fund diversion.
Opara, who was subsequently suspended from the party over insubordination and an attempt to undermine the party leadership, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with Saturday PUNCH.
She said, “Yes, the national chairman came to my house before I went public (with the embezzlement claim) with a car gift. Abure promised he was going to give me a house and some money. That was because he wanted me to sign that hoax audit report.
“He brought the report to my house for me to append my signature but I insisted on seeing what was happening with the account. It was through that report I discovered the party realised N2.17bn.
“I am a woman of integrity who has a name to protect. I want that name to open doors for my kids, even when I am not there. If it is just one person that has this integrity, I want to be that one person. As of that time, the party was preparing to have some off-cycle elections in Kogi and Bayelsa, including this Edo that is about to take place.
“From the off-cycle election in Imo and Kogi, we already had over N900m. From the Edo poll that we are about to have, we already had about N200m alongside other money raised across the country. That was how I discovered the party had over N3.5bn in the account. That was what Abure has been trying to hide from the public.”
The Abure-led National Working Committee recently clashed with Abia Governor Alex Otti and the LP presidential flag bearer over its composition of a 29-man caretaker committee to pilot the party affairs for the next 180 days.
Among other things, the embattled national chairman was accused of holding an illegal convention in Nnewi without carrying all the stakeholders along with his unwillingness to give a proper account of his stewardship including the current state of the party account.
The new allegation of financial recklessness comes three days after the chairman of the Obi-Datti campaign fundraising team, Aisha Yesufu, described Abure as a chronic liar over his claim that he didn’t collect any campaign donation on behalf of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The fiery activist, who reacted in a viral video posted on her official YouTube account on Tuesday, further challenged Abure to tell Nigerians what he did with the proceeds of the infamous ‘Labour Party N1,000 Challenge’ campaign donations he raised since 2022.
But Opara, who in March accused the Edo politician of failing to account for an alleged N3.5bn raised from the sale of nomination forms and fundraising activities in the build-up to the 2023 general election, reiterated that the party leader was running the secretariat like an emperor.
Efforts to reach Abure and the National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, for reactions were unsuccessful.
But the National Secretary of the Labour Party, Umar Farouk, told our correspondent that Opara was using a stale against the embattled chairman in vain.
Farouk also challenged the former treasurer of the party to provide Nigerians with concrete evidence to substantiate the claim.
Credit / Punch Newspaper
