By Sunday Ani
Convener of the 40Million Ballots Movement (40MB), Comrade Kennedy Iyere has said that the movement is independent of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi’s influence and does not take directives from either him or the party but operates to provide support for him and his various support groups.
Comrade Iyere was reacting to media reports that the creation of FUND40MB was as a result of an alleged disagreement between Obi and Professor Utomi about the control of the campaign funds to the party as well as signatories to the party’s campaign funds account. The reports which Iyere attributed to the handiwork of mischief makers equally alleged that Obi’s allies have also sidelined the party’s national chairman, Julius Abure as a signatory, even when he was originally listed as one.
Iyere has publicly debunked the media report, describing it as mischievous and urging the public to disregard it. He said: “The reporters are jobless and were obviously paid to carry out this act of mischief against Peter Obi, Prof Pat Utomi and my good self, but unfortunately, they have failed to realize that these three men are 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 affiliate political support platforms have no collaborative status or operational relationship with the Labour Party. We have long been active in the political arena before Peter Obi joined the Peoples Democratic Party (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. Peter Obi’s entrance resuscitated the Labour Party as a dead party. So, for that reason, people like Abure should be thankful to Prof Utomi rather than engage in acts of media blackmail against him and the rest of us, who paid the ultimate price for Obi’s evolution into a political movement. The 40MB is independent of Obi’s influence and does not take directives from him or the party but operates to provide support for him and his various support groups.”
Comrade Iyere noted that FUND40MB was created because the Abure-led Labour Party was not willing to adopt and absorb Obi’s various support groups, thus compelling the need to devise an independent funding platform for the OBIdient Movement and its various members.
“Not every political party is capable of generating sufficient campaign funds, it takes lots of credibility, connections, contacts and above all, expertise and right people,” Iyere added.
Comrade Iyere believes that the Labour Party does not have the capacity to win the 2023 presidential election for Obi but his support groups, which make up the OBIdient Movement, have the capacity to win the 2023 presidential election Obi. He, therefore, reiterated the need to rely more on the support groups than on the Labour Party. “So, FUND40MB was founded for the sole purpose of raising funds globally to support and finance the activities and programmes of the various members of the OBIdient Movement. Only faceless journalists and media organisations with no registered business name could peddle fake news just like they have done against us. They have no business address, no portfolio, no professional association and no identity. They are as useless as the false news they promote,” he said.