Peter Obi disowns campaign donation platform

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has debunked the reports of a rift between him and the LP over the donation platform for the party.

Obi said the platform for those who wish to donate to the party ahead of the 2023 general election is in line with the law, and designed for swift, secure, and transparent transaction, noting that it was not owned by him.

The former governor of Anambra State made this known via a statement issued on Sunday by his campaign media office, Obi-Datti.

The LP presidential candidate noted that the donation platform was registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), adding that it was deliberately used to encourage transparency and professionalism.

The statement read: “Our disposition at the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organisation has always been not to give any prominence to gutter reports, especially coming from obviously enlisted hirelings, but we are constrained to make an exception in recent reports on social media and other fora, of not only inter-personal rifts between personalities and structures in our stone-cast team because of the premium we place on accountability and transparency as a reformist movement and also to disable any criminal attempts to confuse the public on our official donation platforms.

“We need to state that there is no iota of truth in such publication, all persons, departments and programmes of the Obi-Datti Campaign and the Labour Party are working in seamless synergy, towards providing a government that will meet the desires of the overwhelming majority of Nigerians, at the next elections.

“The official payment platforms for those who wish to donate to our cause, are those available on the official website of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign website, and are perfectly in tune with the law, and designed for swift, secure, effective and transparent transaction.

“The outsourcing and use of the platform of a CAC registered, legitimate and competent Company, Ativo Ltd Quickraiz Collection for the Presidential Fundraiser, was deliberately to encourage transparency, effectiveness and professionalism in the process.

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“We will not for any reason, be distracted by concocted trash from the evil machinations of jittery opponents. Our commitment remains unshaken, in setting examples for probity, and in pursuing relentlessly, victory for our popular candidates in the presidential and indeed, in all the coming elections.

“These faceless hatchet men carrying out the empty and pointless biddings of their paymasters, have entirely no consideration in the serious project of the people, which is the tedious occupation of the Obi-Datti Presidential Organisation, and will not be afforded any other attention to the fabricated fantasies of their warped contraptions.

A statement issued by the company further read: “It has come to the attention of the management of Ativo Limited (the owners of Quickraiz, a donation-based crowdfunding platform) that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, is being alleged to be the owner of Ativo Limited and that he is using the company’s account to divert donation to his campaign for his personal use.

“We wish to state that the above insinuation is completely false and Mr. Peter Obi (or any of his associates) is not a shareholder either in person or by proxy and neither is he a director of Ativo Limited.

“For the benefit of the general public, Ativo Limited is a fully owned subsidiary of Electronic Payplus Limited that started operation in Nigeria in July 2018 after its incorporation as a corporate entity. Between July 2018 and now, over 5,000 campaigns have been launched on the Quickraiz platform, including personal, charity and other political campaigns and there are currently about 500 campaigns ongoing on the platform.

“Like all other crowdfunding platforms worldwide, the operating model is that all donations go into the company (Ativo Limited) account and the donations are subsequently released to the campaign owners at pre-agreed timeline and into the agreed account after the necessary KYC (Know Your Customer) due diligence has been done on the campaign owners.

“The Obi-Datti campaign organization, like any other campaign organization, has set up a fundraising campaign on the Quickraiz platform, and the money raised would be transferred to the campaign organisation as agreed and set up on the platform,” the company stated.

The Star