The 40Million Ballots Movement (40MB) has debunked some media reports which insinuated that the recently launched FUND40MB was as a result of a disagreement between Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party and Prof. Pat Utomi over who controls the party’s campaign fund accounts.
The 40Million Ballots Movement (40MB) and other political pressure groups recently launched Fund40MB to raise, generate and mobilise funds to assist the campaign activities of the various support groups of Peter Obi.
The public unveiling of FUND40MB was conducted and performed by Utomi, a renowned political economist, notable elder statesman, national opinion molder and one of the closest and biggest allies of Peter Obi.
In a statement by the convener of 40Million Ballots Movement (40MB), Comrade Kennedy Iyere, the reports also stated that allies of Obi have sidelined the National Chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure, whom they alleged was earlier listed as one of the signatories.
“These reporters are jobless and were obviously paid to carry out this act of mischief against Peter Obi, Prof Pat Utomi and Comrade Kennedy Iyere but unfortunately they have failed to realise that we’re too focused to be distracted from their mission, which is about Nigeria’s political rescue and redemption in 2023.
“The 40Million Ballots Movement (40MB) and its affiliated political support platforms have no collaborative status or operational relationship with the Labour Party. We had long been active in the political arena before Peter Obi joined the PDP Presidential Race. When we formed the 40Million Ballots Movement (40MB), Peter Obi was not part of our plan and the Labour Party on the other hand was comatose.
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“The entrance of Peter Obi resuscitated Labour Party as a dead party and for that reason, people like Julius Abure should be thankful to Prof Pat Utomi rather than engage in acts of media blackmail against him and the rest of us who paid the ultimate price for Peter Obi’s evolution into a political movement,” Iyere stated.
According to him, neither Peter Obi nor Labour Party has input in the activities and programmes of the 40Million Ballots Movement (40MB) and its allied platforms, which include FUND40MB and others.
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He further stressed that the FUND40MB was launched out of the need to help mobilise campaign funds for various credible support groups of Obi, which informed the fundraising campaign unveiled by
Utomi on August 15 2022.
According to Iyere, the Abure-led Labour Party is not willing to adopt and absorb the various support groups of Peter Obi, thus compelling the need to devise an independent funding platform for the OBIdient Movement and its various members.
Iyere is of the belief and conviction that Labour Party does not have the capacity to win the 2023 presidential election for Obi but the support groups of Peter Obi which make up the OBIdient Movement have the capacity to win the presidential election.
He buttressed the need to rely more on the support groups than on the Labour Party.
He expained this was why he founded FUND40MB to raise fund globally to support and finance the activities and programmes of the various members of the OBIdient Movement.