Abayomi Arabambi, the National Publicity Secretary of the Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party (LP), has alleged that the partyโs presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi is planning to buy a private jet after condemning other Nigerian leaders for flying same aircraft.
Arabambi, who made the allegation in an interview with the Arise News TV, also accused Obi of joining forces with the embattled National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure and other members of the party from the South East in an attempt to regionalise the party.
He said that the account of the partyโs 2023 campaign spending Obi gave was not correct, stressing that the Labour Party had $15million donated to the party from the diaspora and that he knew the money was in Fidelity Bank.
Arabambi, who said that Obiโs lack of managerial ability was causing problems in the Labour Party, added that the former Anambra State Governor had been flying private jets since after the 2023 elections, questioning where he got the money he used to fly private jets.
He said, โWhat Peter Obi gave the other day is far from the truth. We have $15 million donated to the Labour Party. We have money from the diaspora that was donated to the Labour Party. I know that money is in Fidelity Bank but they also need to come out clean about it. That money belongs to the Labour Party, not to them.
โMr. Obi has not been flying a private jet before now but today, he is going to buy a private jet. He no longer takes a flight by himself but during the election, you could see him taking a flight by himself.
โToday, where did he get money to fly a private jet because he has been accusing other people of flying private jets but today he is also flying private jets, with which money?โ
Arabambi stressed that โWe all need to sit down, if they want the crisis in the Labour Party to abate, all of us will sit down as co-owner of the Labour Party because we have stakeholders. It is not somebody who will say because I am this, I donโt want to listen to you or I am that, I donโt want to listen to you.โ
โAccording to him, โWe canโt go into 2027 like this. If we go into 2027 like this, I am going to tell you, it is just a goal for Bola Tinubu and we donโt want it to be a goal for him.
โThe managerial ability that Mr Peter Obi lacks is what is causing this problem today. I want to advise him, he should stop putting Igbo in other regions. The matter in the Labour Party is a question of ethnic conflict.
โIf Apapa is an Igbo man, Obi would have accepted him. Look at when we have been talking about this fraud, Obi didnโt talk until when an Igbo woman challenged Abure, then he came out to show the statement of account.
โAbove all these pedestrians, he needs to behave like a true Nigerian. When an infraction is committed against a Yoruba, Ijaw or an Hausa man, you that wants to rule Nigeria must exhibit that leadership traits, not that when two people come to you and one is an Igbo, you speak Igbo and just throw the other person and say the Igbo person is correct.โ
According to Arabambi, Abure and Obi want to “Anambralise, Imonise and Abianise” the Labour Party and that has been the major cause of the crisis in the party.
He said, โActually, we are not quarrelling over money. Our issue with Abure was their attempt to Anambralise, Imonise and Abianise the Labour Party. They want to Imonise us, they want to Abianise us and they want to Anambralise us. That was our issue with Mr. Peter Obi.โ (SaharaReporters)
