The Obi/Baba-Ahmed Presidential Campaign Organisation has disclosed that it spent over N744.5 million (seven hundred and forty-four million, five hundred thousand) in litigation in courts over the 2023 presidential election.
The organisation also said that it received donations approximately N596 million (five hundred and ninety-five million, nine hundred and seventy-six thousand, nine hundred and ninety-four naira) in donations from Nigerians.
The Chairman of the Fundraising Team of the Campaign Organisation, Aisha Yesufu, disclosed this on Thursday during a fundraising report presentation.
“Accountability and transparency are very critical and important; that is why we asked people to donate so that we could come back to them to explain how their money was judiciously used,” Yesufu said.
“We thank everyone who donated in cash and kindness. From the donations from citizens, we received N595,976,994. This is the money we raised from the four accounts that we have talked about,” she said.
Yesufu said the Fundraising Team of the Campaign Organisation received N8 million from the candidate himself (Peter Obi).
“We designed a strategic blueprint focused on channelling the movement energy and support for Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed with different support groups. We provided direct and indirect support to over a hundred support groups across all 36 states in Nigeria. We also deployed media-related campaigns that reached over 11 million people, leveraging over 40 radio stations, community outreach, and social media,” Yesufu said.
“We would have loved to use televisions and all of that, but because of our financial constraints, we were mindful of being judicious in our usage of the funds that we received.
“So, out of these things, campaign materials worth N258,374,330.00 were procured and distributed across the 36 states and also in Abuja. Media and radio broadcasting was at the cost of N16,432,867.00,” she said.
Yesufu said the election promotion expenses took N10,808,948.00; N324,381,700.00 was spent on Polling Unit Agents, bank charges gulped N1,750,544.00, while administrative charges took N477,000.00.
”We deployed N744,500,000.00 to cover legal expenses. And then, in campaign and election activities, we had over N28,500,000.00.
“On the issue of legal fees, remember what I said earlier: We had N8,000,000.00 that the candidate himself brought,” she said.
