Peter Obi Breaks Silence Over Doyin Okupe’s Conviction
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| Peter Obi Breaks Silence Over Doyin Okupe’s Conviction |
Peter Obi Breaks Silence Over Doyin Okupe’s Conviction
The Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, claims that his campaign council’s director-general, Doyin Okupe, being found guilty of alleged money laundering will not discourage him from running for president of Nigeria in 2023.
In an interview with reporters on Monday, December 19, at the Akwa Ibom state council secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the Labour Party’s flagbearer made this statement.
The former governor of Anambra reportedly stated that the conviction had not discouraged him and that he would carry on with his campaign while allowing the legal system to operate according to its normal course.
I am learning about it (the conviction) the same way you are, he replied. I continue to research all of the information that is being provided by the court. I support the rule of law. I won’t let it make me feel hopeless. Someone questioned me about not using my aircraft because it was grounded and all when I arrived in Akwa Ibom today. I responded that nothing demoralizes me.
“I have never in my life stayed where they dropped me; else, I would have been there before. Let them influence the folks in my immediate vicinity as they want during this election. I’ll arrive there.
On Monday, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu ruled that Okupe had violated sections 16(1) and (2) of the Money Laundering Act by receiving cash payments in excess of the legally permitted amount without first going via a bank.
According to the Act, no person or organization may acquire more than N5 million or N10 million without first going via a bank or financial institution.
Okupe and two businesses were charged in 2019 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with fraud totaling N702 million.
Okupe was accused of 59 counts of “money laundering and illicit fund diversion” totaling N702 million by the anti-graft agency.
According to the EFCC, Sambo Dasuki’s Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) provided the funds.
Former ONSA Director of Administration and Finance Shuaibu Salisu was called to testify by the anti-graft commission against Okupe.
Salisu testified before the court that he was ordered in 2012 to give N50 million to the director general of Peter Obi’s campaign.
According to Premium Times, he stated that the ONSA had instructed him to pay Okupe “N10 million monthly for over two years.”
Due to a lack of cash, Salisu continued, the amount was decreased to a monthly N5 million at the end of 2014.
Additionally, he said Dasuki had told him to give Okupe another N50 million in cash.
Out of 59 counts that the EFCC had filed against Okupe, Justice Ojukwu found him guilty of 26 of them.
She then imposed a 52-year prison term on Obi’s ally, which amounted to two years for each offense. NAN report.
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