The Presidential Campaign Organisation of Labour Party Candidate, Peter Obi has formally named former Senior Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Media, Doyin Okupe as its Director-General.
The party earlier on Wednesday unveiled a list of 1,234 as members of the campaign council.
It also announced Okupe as the Director General of the Campaign Council.
The former media aide to Jonathan is facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja for allegedly being paid N702 million illegally from public funds meant to procure arms to fight insurgency.
Okupe, who served under former President Jonathan from 2012 to 2015 had admitted on social media that he received N10 million monthly from a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, based on the instruction of Jonathan.
According to him, the money was meant for a programme on NTA known as ‘Insight,’ which showcased the achievements of Jonathan.
He was arrested by the agency on December 12, 2018, but released on administrative bail. He was later rearrested on January 11, 2019.
EFCC had explained that Okupe was being charged on 59 counts for corruption and would be arraigned before a judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu, of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
During one of the court sittings, Osas Azonabor, prosecution witness and an operative of the EFCC, narrated how sometime in 2016, the agency got an intelligence report that some individuals were paid by the ONSA for doing nothing.
Speaking before Justice Ojukwu, Azonobar said when investigations began, it was discovered that Okupe was one of the beneficiaries.
The witness told the court that the anti-graft agency wrote to the ONSA, demanding the vouchers of the payments made to Okupe.
He disclosed that after analysing the payment vouchers, it was realised that N50 million was paid into Okupe’s account, as stated in a voucher dated April 8, 2014.
Azonobar said another cash payment of N6m was found to have been made to Okupe on April 2, 2014, noting that there were series of payments in multiples of N10m made to the defendant between 2012 and 2014.
He also told the court that it was discovered that N50 million was paid into the Zenith Bank account of Value Trust Investment Ltd, a company in which Okupe is a director.
Azonobar added that another N35 million was paid into the account of Abraham Telecoms Nigeria Limited, to which Okupe is a signatory.
“Okupe said he was paid N10m monthly for 24 months by ONSA and the money was reduced to N5m monthly from January 2015 to May 2015,” he had said.
“He said the money was for special services. When asked to explain what he meant by ‘special services’, he said that part of the money was used to sponsor ‘Insight’, a programme aired on NTA,” the witness told the court.
The witness further said Okupe claimed that part of the money collected from ONSA was used to pay workers.