Aisha Yesufu has responded to claims by Labour Party National Chairman Julius Abure, who stated that she and Pastor Itua Ighodalo were responsible for managing the funds donated to Peter Obi’s 2023 presidential campaign. Reacting to Abure’s statements, Yesufu, who chaired the campaign fundraising team, accused the Labour Party Chairman of lying.
Abure had previously addressed journalists on September 9, 2024, dismissing allegations that he embezzled the party’s campaign donations. He asserted that neither he nor the party was directly involved in managing the campaign funds, which were instead handled by Yesufu and Ighodalo.
In her response, Yesufu challenged Abure to disclose how he spent the proceeds from the ‘Labour Party ₦1,000 Challenge’ campaign donations, which began in 2022. She revealed that Abure had opened a separate account for campaign donations on behalf of the Labour Party, an account to which she had no access. Yesufu demanded that Abure account for all the funds donated to the party and the money used to procure forms for its candidates.
Yesufu also refuted Abure’s claim that only two people were signatories to the campaign accounts, revealing that there were actually three signatories. She emphasized the importance of transparency, criticizing Abure for not accounting for the funds raised through public donations and used in the electioneering campaign. This controversy comes six months after Yesufu announced that the fundraising team received donations totaling ₦596 million from the party and Obi supporters.