Labour Party To Open Portal For Donation Of Funds To Obi’s Campaign Next Week – Pat Utomi

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Monday, September 5th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Pat Utomi, professor of political economy, has stated that portals to allow Nigerians both home and abroad to donate funds to the campaign of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party, will be opened next week.

The Labour Party chieftain made this known on Sunday when he appeared on Sunday Politics, a programme on Channels Television.

The professor stated that there is nothing wrong with Nigerians in the diaspora donating funds to political campaigns in Nigeria and he was a beneficiary of such when he contested to be president.

“When the time is right, the diaspora will give money. They have always given money to campaigns. I ran for president before and got support from the diaspora in 2006 and 2007 and then when I ran in 2011,” he said.

“When the time is right, we are going to obviously solicit from Nigerians across the board. We are setting up portals where people can give money.

“These portals are not up yet. They would be up next week or so and eventually we are going to be able to access resources from the diaspora for sure. But right now, we are on a sensitisation tour about what makes democracy work. Right now, Nigeria’s democracy is not working because of the transaction cost involved and the trade-off that has to be made.”

Asked if donating money from abroad to fund campaigns is not going against extant laws, Utomi stated that no law should oppose the funding of political rallies from the diaspora.

“I am completely aware of what the law says. If we open a portal and say Nigerians who want to support what we stand for should contribute to it. If you say Nigerians abroad can’t go to a portal and contribute a dollar and those at home. First of all, you have prevented them from voting,” he said.

“Every other African country manages to allow their diaspora to vote – Ghana, Kenya, everybody. In Nigeria, they can’t vote because Nigerian politicians are afraid that because they are more clear-thinking voters, they will not likely win elections.

“Currently, bad-performing politicians are afraid that right-thinking Nigerians abroad will vote. Now you say they can’t even give N100 to a candidate. Are you clear with what you are saying?

“What we are saying is that we are going to have a portal that every Nigerians can go in and make their contribution. What can be more democratic than that? If there is a law that opposes that, that law is fundamentally flawed and does not deserve the name of the law.”