Abroad trip: Obi-Datti Campaign group dismisses violation of Electoral Act

By Christiana Ekpa

Obi-Datti Media Office, a campaign section of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidates, has dismissed the demand by Tinubu-Shettima support group that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should disqualify Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti-Baba from the 2023 Presidential election.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Obi-Datti Media Office said the argument that Obi-Datti violated sections of the 2022 Electoral Act (Amendment) on election funding are desolate and baseless.

“All of a sudden, the structure-less and social media candidates are now the headache of the ruling party that they now had to fabricate and imagine things they want the electoral Commission to act on.

“Obi’s successful trip abroad which is ostensibly to sensitize and carry along Nigerians aboard on his upcoming agenda of rebuilding the country is open and transparent and not a fund raising. But we know why its discomforting some people, because they cannot meet Nigerians in diaspora knowing that they contributed to their leaving the country in the first place.

“We have always said it umpteenth times that their own understanding of structure is the abundance of looted funds in their kitty that they plan to deploy on hungry Nigerian voters during the election to sway their votes.

“They know nobody has the kind of stolen funds they have and are always uncomfortable at anything suggesting to them that their opponents could match them. Obi did not go to beg for money but to sell himself and his mission to Nigerians outside the shores who are critical stakeholders in the Nigeria project.

“Since June 2022 that they deployed a lump of their loots to get the ticket of their party, the nation’s currency crashed and still battling for breath. And since then they have been mopping up foreign currencies ahead of the election to buy voters.

“The Media office therefore needs to educate them that Obi and his Running mate are knowledgeable duo who know the law and operates within it and who became what they are financially, politically and socially doing legitimate businesses. They have no bullion van history of questionable wealth and are ready and willing to be scrutinized.

“Just as Obi and Datti backgrounds and antecedents are verifiable so also is their source of income before and now are unambiguous and auditable.

“Obi and Datti, reached where they are today in this 2023 journey giving no ‘shishi’ to anybody, because they are investing on the suffering Nigerians impoverished by the greedy leaders of the past who diverted public funds to their private and family pockets”, the statement said.