Yesufu, who is also the chairman of the campaign fundraising team, called Abure "very shameless" for claiming that polling unit agents were not paid.
Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the Labour Party's (LP) statement that Aisha Yesufu and Pastor Itua Ighodalo managed Peter Obi's 2023 campaign funds has been disputed by the Obi-Datti fundraising team.
During a press conference on Monday in Abuja, Abure refuted allegations of embezzlement, asserting that he had no direct access to or involvement with the campaign funds.
“The party and I have been accused of being responsible for Peter Obi’s failure in the 2023 general election. They stated that the campaign, election donations and funds for the payment of agents were mismanaged by the party hence Peter Obi failed in the election,” Abure stated.
He clarified, “The election funding was done by Obi himself. As per the donations, the party was not involved. The signatories to these accounts were Aisha Yesufu and Pastor Itua Ighodalo. They were equally responsible for the payment of Polling Unit Agents.”
Abure concluded, “Consequently, it is mischievous for any person to accuse me and the party of mismanagement of these funds. At no time did the party or its officials engage in any financial transactions as it relates to the presidential campaign.”
While reacting to Abure's comment in a viral video posted on her official YouTube account on Tuesday, Yesufu, who is also the chairman of the campaign fundraising team, called Abure "very shameless" for claiming that polling unit agents were not paid.
She questioned, "What happened to all the millions that people used to buy tickets? You couldn't use any of it to pay agents."
She accused Abure of engaging in outdated practices, saying, "Abure thinks it is in those days when they were doing unionism when nobody had access to the internet, and nobody kept records. They would say anything and get away with it."
Yesufu also challenged Abure to account for the proceeds from the ‘Labour Party N1,000 Challenge’ donations raised since 2022.
"That statement Abure made was a big fat lie," she asserted. "He thinks it was like those days when they used to do their labour unionism when nobody had internet or kept records; those days they got away with everything."
She recounted frustration with the fundraising team's insistence on due process and criticised Abure for opening a separate Labour Party account.
“When that account was opened by Abure, I was very angry,” Yesufu said, adding that the funds were not used for the campaign.
This dispute follows Yesufu’s announcement that the fundraising team received N596 million from supporters and Obidient movements, while Obi spent N744,500,000 on litigation after his 2023 presidential election loss.
Follow the Sahara Reporters channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaFClvtH5JM6SSsP7M2Y