ANSLEM Eragbe, the suspended National Youth Leader of the Labour Party, has demanded N10 million in refunds from the party’s leadership in order to offset some embarrassing online debts he incurred during their mobilization campaign.
Eragbe made the demand in a letter to the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi; his running mate, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed; the LP National Working Committee; and campaign council members.
This was despite the fact that the party’s National Secretary, Umar Farouk, denied the claim, claiming that he was not commissioned to create any website or spend his money on the alleged project.
On October 21, the LP national youth leader was sentenced to a six-month suspension over allegations of forgery, the establishment of an illegal donation website, and acts of insubordination.
Eragbe, a senatorial candidate for Edo North, had fought back vehemently, claiming that his sanction was unconstitutional and illegal.
Eragbe bemoaned in a letter that the party had failed to mobilize him for the campaign.
He noted that every penny he spent came from his own pocket.
The statement read, “I wish to request that only N10m be paid to me to offset initial debt incurred for the development of the Labour Party National Mobilisation website.
“You will recall that Labour Party did not mobilise me as the National Youth Leader of Labour Party till today for this website development save for the “out-of-pocket” allowance of one million naira (N1,000,000) only as the National Youth Leader of Labour Party for my official activities.
“I hereby attach some evidence of the over N5m receipts of debt owed to online financial platform institutions to the effect of my demand for payment for the website development to enable me to pay off these embarrassing debts.”
Eragbe went on to say that the LP’s national mobilization website had an unlimited database with over 47 million voters spread across 176,846 polling units, 774 LGA, 36 states, and 8,815 political wards, including the FCT.
He also revealed that the donation portal for the 2023 general elections had not yet been activated.
“You may also wish to recall and remember that the ‘Command and Control Unit and 20 buses’ donated to the party presidential campaign committee in Asokoro and some financial support were secured through my “fund solicitation” for the deployment of these ICT solutions for the 2023 presidential and general elections and these solutions need to be deployed forthwith, should you still desire same.
“Kindly oblige me the payment of the initial outstanding N10m to enable me to offset some of this embarrassing online debt incurred for the above stated objectives.
