Peter Obi, Pat Utomi Fight Dirty Over Labour Party’s Campaign Funds
THE camps of both Peter Obi and Pat Utomi is currently embroiled in a controversy with tension mounting in the Labour Party over donated campaign funds as both party helmsmen drag who should be signatory to the party’s campaign funds and control stakes of the party’s finances ahead of the 2023 general elections.
According to sources close to the party hierarchy on Monday, allies of the Presidential Candidate of the Party, Mr. Peter Obi, have sidelined the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barr. Abure, and Prof. Pat Utomi, who were earlier listed as signatories to the party’s campaign donation account. Hence, one Benji Uba, who is a loyal ally of Peter Obi, was reported to have made himself the only signatory to the account, which has raised serious concerns of unrest within the party.
Our source also revealed that the squabble over who should be in charge of campaign funds, as well as Prof. Utomi’s distrust of Benji Uba, prompted the creation of an alternative fund-raising platform, which they tagged FUND40MB, as inaugurated recently by Pat Utomi and Kennedy Iyere.
It would be recalled that Prof. Utomi approved the appointment of Dr. Charles Odibo as the party’s campaign spokesman for the presidential election last week, but Benji Uba and others in Peter Obi’s camp rejected the appointment and choice of Odibo as the party’s spokesman, questioning Utomi’s capacity to recommend and ratify such an appointment.
Also, according to our source, Mr. Obi is believed to have instigated the war through proxies, and has continued to deny knowledge of the abuse and ill-treatment meted out to Prof. Pat Utomi by his cronies, and since his arrival into Labour Party in May, he has been implicated in numerous instances of gross financial irresponsibility. According to reports, the party’s nomination forms quickly multiplied tenfold, and a few Anambra men who joined the party with Peter Obi converted the Labour tickets to cash and carry bazaar.
Party tickets, which were previously priced at 500k, were sold for between one-five million naira, and the money paid in cash to a few people and not the Labour Party account with a bank. They were being coordinated by the same Benji Uba, who was quartered at the Best Western Hotel Awka, where he was fleecing aspirants.
Prof Utomi is said to be unhappy with recent developments in the party and to have felt used to give the party a face when he stepped down to allow Peter Obi to run for President and had threatened to expose their criminality, which they imported from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) into Labour Party.
Labour Party is scheduled to travel to the United States of America on August 29 to solicit financial support for the party’s presidential election in February, which is why Prof. Utomi and Kennedy Iyere put themselves forward to manage the donated funds, but those with Peter Obi appear to have ulterior motives as they have rejected Utomi as a signatory to the party’s campaign account and equally disowned the FUND40MB fund-raising initiative envisioned by Utomi and Iyere.
With the recent party developments and crisis over who should be in charge of donated campaign money, Prof Pat Utomi might be compelled to spill the beans and expose Peter Obi’s scheme. “He appears to be running for president only to raise money from willing donors and innocent Nigerians for selfish interests.
“It doesn’t seem like Peter Obi is vying for the presidency. His recent actions do not indicate this. Instead, he is raising money through the platform for himself and his friends. This is the current feeling of those around Utomi and the Labour Party,” a source in the party stated.
