A major funder of Nigeria’s Labour Party, whose presidential candidate Peter Obi was officially declared as finishing third in the race during the (s)election of 2023, has revealed to Naijiant.com how Obi’s efforts to at least minimise election rigging resulted in an extortion attempt by electoral commission senior officials.
Obi’s campaign was funded mainly by his supporters known as “Obidients” because their principal refused to spend his own money (“he doesn’t give shishi” was popularised during the campaign”). Money from Obidients, especially Nigerians abroad, flooded into the campaign and those with deep pockets were able to gain access to the presidential candidate.
At one meeting with Obi, the major funder that spoke to us said he warned Obi that the (s)election was going to be rigged and it was necessary to seek reassurances from INEC officials and explore routes to mitigation. Obi agreed to this suggestion and the Labour Party backer arranged a meeting in Abuja with INEC top brass.
Tinubu declared winner of the (s)election
At the meeting, he claimed the officials told him point blank that Bola Tinubu, then flagbearer for the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was eventually declared winner amidst claims of widespread electoral fraud and violence, had started “paying” them since the 2019 (s)elections won by then President Muhammadu Buhari. The Labour Party backer didn’t reveal how much was paid and the names of who was paid, but he said Tinubu started from then to pay bribes to INEC officials across the country.
The INEC officials at the meeting then told Obi’s representative that unless Obi matched or exceeded what they were receiving from Tinubu, Obi should “forget about the election”. The Labour Party backer knew there was no chance of matching the deep pockets of Tinubu, who had Lagos State, the richest state in the country, on chokehold since 1999.
