Labour Party National Chairman, Julius Abure has announced that he would be suing the party’s national treasurer, Oluchukwu Oparah for defaming his person and bringing down his character.
Abure said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, during his right of reply to the claims of Oparah.
He also stated that she only made the claims to mislead the public and destabilize the party.
“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 and so, I came here with these checks that she co-signed.
“Those checks that were signed between February and march 2021 but these are public documents that you can get from the bank and so you can ask her to bring the evidence that those monies were withdrawn without her signature.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 signed by the national treasurer countering her claims that she has no idea of what is going on with regards to the party’s finances.
“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 from 2014 till date. I will challenge her to bring all her records from 2014 till 2021 before I assumed 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 3.5 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 that entered the party between 2022 and now is 1.3billion. We also got 700 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 3.5 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, national secretary as B signatory and the national treasurer as signatory C. Obiora stated clearly yesterday and that is the opinion of the national working committee 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.”
He also debunked the claims that he has plans to run for governorship in Edo state.
“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 must be 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 that responsibility to do that for the people of Edo that they get the best.”
Chioma Kalu
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