In a new turn of events for the Labour Party (LP), its embattled National Chairman, Julius Abure, has been arrested for fraud and financial crimes.
Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, on Wednesday, nabbed the Chairman in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
In a now viral video spotted on X, Abure was seen on the floor after been dragged by the operatives during the arrest.
This development follows the allegation labeled on him for misappropriating the sum of N3.5 billion generated from the sales of nomination forms and other activities ahead of the 2023 general election.
Oluchi Opara, LP’s National Treasurer who sounded the alarm was however suspended after Abure and the Party’s denial.
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Abure had denied last week Thursday saying: “It’s not true that she said that the party has collected over N3 billion. I want to make it abundantly clear, we already have an audited report, made by a certified auditor of the party. The party has an external auditor who has reviewed all the records. And we have all the audited statements of accounts of the party from 2022 to 2023.
“All these records are available; the audited statement of account, I have it here.
“The total money, in summary, that entered the party account between 2022 and now is N1.3 billion; nothing more, nothing less.
“We also got N700 million, which were the campaign funds that went straight to the campaign organization for the campaigns. I didn’t know and I cannot reconcile where she got the N3.5 billion that she talked.
“I want to challenge her that she should make the record available where she arrived at the sum of N3.5bn as money generated during the election.”
Peter Obi, LP’s 2023 presidential candidate, had since ordered that an external auditor probes the situation.