A group under the aegis of Tinubu-Shettima Connect has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disqualify the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed from the 2023 presidential contest over alleged violation of the Electoral Act. What happened: Recall that the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, on Friday, September 2, 2022, inaugurated an 11-man Diaspora Committee to organise fund-raising activities, among other things for the Obi-Datti ticket.
The inauguration came a day after the party’s Diaspora support groups pledged to crowd-fund $150million for Obi, and another N100billion is to be sourced from supporters in Nigeria, Daily Trust reported.
Tinubu group kicks: Reacting to the development, the Tinubu-Shettima Connect noted that the move by the Labour Party was a blatant violation of the Electoral Act on campaign funding.
In a statement issued and signed by its convener, Adebanjo Moyosore on Saturday, September 3, 2022, the group said it was not only illegal to raise campaign funds from abroad through unknown sources or unidentified groups, there is also consequences and implications for such act.
It also vowed to begin a legal action to ensure that Labour Party is disqualified from taking part in the 2023 presidential election as punishment for engaging in activities that contravened the Electoral Act.
Moyosore argued that setting up a Diaspora committee to gather campaign funds from Nigerians in diaspora for Obi’s presidential bid was not only “illegal but also criminal” act on the part of the Labour Party leadership.
The statement party read: “Section 85 of the Electoral Act has clearly explained this; Section 85 (a) (b) provides that any political party that: (a) holds or possesses any fund outside Nigeria in contravention of section 225 (3) (a) of the constitution, commits an offence and shall, on conviction, forfeit the funds or assets purchased with such funds to the commission, and in addition, may be liable to a fine of at least N5million, or (b) retain any fund or other asset remitted to it from outside Nigeria in contravention of section 225.”
