Labour Party National Chairman, Julius Abure has vowed to sue the party’s national treasurer, Oluchukwu Oparah for allegedly defaming his person, reputation, and character.
Abure made this vow in an interview with Arise Television, during his right to reply to the claims of Oparah.
The Labour Party chairman said Oparah only made the claims to mislead the public and destabilize the party.
Abure said, “She has come to lie and to misinform members of the party in order to bring us and the party to disrepute. She was in this studio and said she never had access to the account and didn’t know how the account was run, so, I came here with these checks that she co-signed.
“Those checks that were signed between February and March 2021 are public documents that you can get from the bank, so you can ask her to bring evidence that those monies were withdrawn without her signature.
“I must also state that beyond a right of reply, if not that there was an insistence that I should reply, ordinarily I will get people to reply and put all the facts before you. But I decided to come and make a few clarifications.
“My lawyers are working, and by today, those cases of defamation will be filed against Oluchukwu Oparah who came on national television to defame my reputation and bring down my person.
“There is no way I would have taken this for granted. By today or tomorrow, my lawyers will file. I find it very embarrassing that it is even those within the party that are being used to destabilize the party.”
Abure also provided some cheques, which he said were signed by the national treasurer, who had claimed that she had no idea what was going on with regards to the party’s finances.
He said, “First and foremost, I need to make it abundantly clear that I am the first national chairman of the party that has been able to make and ensure that we have financial records in the office.
“Before my assumption as the national chairman in 2021, there were no financial records in the office. Oluchi Oparah has been the national treasurer of the office since 2014. I will challenge her to bring all her records from 2014 until 2021 before I assume office in 2021.
“I must make it clear that I have never, at any point in time, stopped or prevented Oluchi Oparah from carrying out her duties as national treasurer of the party. Today, it is no longer in vogue that people will pay into the treasurer’s account. People do direct transfers.
“I must also put on record here that it is not true that the party has collected over N3.5 billion. I need to make it clear that we already have audited reports made by a certified auditor of the party who has reviewed all the records, and we have all the audited statements of accounts from 2022 to 2023.
“The total money that entered the party, in summary, between 2022 and now is N1.3 billion. We also got N700 million, which were the campaign funds that went straight to the campaign organizations for the campaigns. So, I didn’t know, and I cannot reconcile where she got the N3.5 billion that she talked about.
“We have three accounts. One in Zenith, Fidelity and one in UBA and then the signatories are myself as a signatory, the national secretary as signatory B, and the national treasurer as signatory C. Obiora stated clearly yesterday, and that is the opinion of the National Working Committee (NWC), and I am sure that you have been following the activities of the party.
“The party came under attack just after the 2023 elections, obviously, the intention is to destabilize, disorganize and take over the leadership of the party and therefore destroy the very foundation of the party so that there will not be credible opposition in the country. It is clear and very obvious that a lot of people are being used to disrupt the party.”
Meanwhile, Abure debunked the claims that he has plans to run for governorship in Edo State.
He said, “In Edo State, for instance, I must say here that I am not interested in the gubernatorial race and I am not going to run.
“I feel like the process must be transparent, open, and competitive, and I feel the reason we have bad leadership is because all other political parties have lacked internal party democracy, and therefore the best cannot come out of the parties. That’s why in Edo State, I have the responsibility to do that for the people of Edo so that they get the best.”
