Return campaign funds or face legal action, ACPN threatens Ezekwesili

The Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) has demanded that Oby Ezekwesili, former presidential candidate of the party, return all funds generated during her campaign.

On Wednesday, Ezekwesili had accounted for “every penny” spent on her campaign.

The former minister said the campaign raised N48,957,416.00, $17,645.00, and £200, from October 1, 2018 to February 2, 2019, before she withdrew from the presidential race.

But speaking at a press briefing, Ganiyu Galadima, national chairman of the party, faulted the statement of account presented by Ezekwesili, saying the party “rejects in entirety everything she submitted”. 

He said the accounts rendered by her was unacceptable, while alleging that there was no transparency in what was stated.

“We are rejecting everything she submitted in entirety, we want to know all the content of the accounts and see the accounts because at the end of the day it is not the presidential candidate that INEC will hold responsible according to the law but the party, and whatever any candidate generated for his or her campaign belongs to the party,” he said.

“For somebody who want to contest for presidency, all you could generate for period of three months was just N43 million and spent everything by herself. She could not even disclose to the party the sources of the fund and how much she was able to generate.

“We want to know the full disclosure of all the accounts she opened because when you look at the statement she made available there are four different accounts which we didn’t know anything about.

“Look at the Omoyele Sowore, he publicly disclosed on a national TV recently that his campaign has been about to generate about N99 million with the party. In addition, he has also told the world how these money could be traced.

“So why is there no transparency in Madam Ezekwesili’s project? That is the bone of contention. We are expecting that she will respond at the appropriate time but if she doesn’t, we may be compelled to go to court to seek for order of Mandamus.”