LP crisis: Abure denies N3.5bn fraud allegation, dares embattled secretary to publish party’s account record

• The embattled National Treasures of the party, Mrs Oluchi Oparah, had accused Abure of being ironfisted and refusing to open up the party’s books to audit its finances

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, says allegations of misappropriation and embezzlement of party’s funds are spurious and false.

Recall that the embattled National Treasures of the party, Mrs Oluchi Oparah, had accused Abure of being ironfisted and refusing to open up the party’s books to audit its finances.

Oparah, who said Abure denied her access to the party’s financial record for checks and scrutiny, equally demanded that Abure should render account of party funds in excess of N3.5 billion, being proceeds of sale of forms and sundry fund raisers for the 2023 general election.

Following her allegations, the party slammed six months suspension on Oparah.

Abure has however debunked Oparah’s allegations, saying the party didn’t collected over N3.5 billion as revenue into its account.

The Chairman spoke on Thursday while fielding questions on Arise Television’s Morning Show concerning the ongoing crisis in the party..

Abure also now challenged Oparah to make available the record on how she arrived at the sum of N3.5 billion as money generated during the election.

He said, “It’s not true that she said that the party has collected over N3 billion. I want to make it abundantly clear, we already have an audited report, made by a certified auditor of the party. The party has an external auditor who has reviewed all the records. And we have all the audited statements of accounts of the party from 2022 to 2023.

“All these records are available; the audited statement of account, I have it here.

“The total money, in summary, that entered the party account between 2022 and now is N1.3 billion; nothing more, nothing less.

“We also got N700 million, which were the campaign funds that went straight to the campaign organization for the campaigns. I didn’t know and I cannot reconcile where she got the N3.5 billion that she talked.

“I want to challenge her that she should make the record available where she arrived at the sum of N3.5bn as money generated during the election.”