There has been no official reaction from the camp of the Labour Party and the Obi-Datti Presidential campaign, hours after a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja passed a guilty verdict on the Director-General of the Presidential Campaign, Dr. Doyin Okupe. Okupe has been standing trial on charges of money laundering brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The case, which dates back to 2015 involves the diversion of monies totaling $2.1 billion meant to procure arms for the Nigerian armed forces to fight and end the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East. Following the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 Presidential election, investigations commenced over the disappearance of the monies with scores of suspects being hurled before the courts to answer charges.
Justice Ijeoma Ojuwku of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court returned a guilty verdict on Okupe, a former Senior Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan for collecting N200 million cash from former National Security Adviser (NSA). Col. Sambo Dasuki. The trial judge held that Okupe violated the Money Laundering Act.
The Act provides that no individual or organization shall receive any sum above N5 million and N10 million respectively without passing through a financial institution. Okupe, one of the major backers and political henchmen supporting the Obi-Datti Presidential ticket now faces time in jail or a stinging conviction, which could blunt the Labour Party’s narrative that it is the party that would clamp down on corruption and misappropriation of funds.
When The Explainer checked the Labour Party Twitter handle over three hours after the verdict of the court became trending news on social media, no statement had been issued by either the party or the candidate. On the Twitter timeline of Peter Obi, his last engagement was an interactive session with members of the Editorial Board of Thisday Newspapers. With the conviction of its Director-General barely two months to the 2023 Presidential election, the Obi-Datti Campaign has a huge moral crisis staring them in the face.
How the campaign handles this tricky situation will define their real intentions in terms of whether they would match words with action in stamping out corruption in governance, if they manage to weather the storm and win the election come February next year.
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