Yunusa Tanko, national coordinator of the Obidient Movement, says Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), remains the only presidential candidate in recent Nigerian elections to publicly account for campaign funds and expenditures.
Tanko spoke on Arise Television on Tuesday, while responding to allegations surrounding financial accountability in political campaigns.
According to him, Obi subjected his campaign finances to an independent audit and made the outcome available to the public.
“Amazingly, to this day, I have not seen any presidential candidate or any group come out to account for the expenditure of their campaign,” he said.
“The only person who has done that is Mr Peter Obi.”
Tanko said he personally witnessed the process through which the campaign’s finances were reviewed by independent auditors.
“I was there when Aisha Yesufu and His Excellency, Mr Peter Obi, employed the services of an independent auditor who came in,” he said.
“We were at Johnwoods Hotel, and they addressed the world.”
He added that the auditors provided a breakdown of campaign income and expenditure.
“They accounted for every single kobo,” he said.
“You can see it is there. Your people were there.”
Tanko challenged other major political parties to make public their campaign financial records.
“I still want to see where APC accounted for theirs, or PDP accounted for theirs,” he said.
The former campaign spokesman said Obi’s decision to publish the records was consistent with his emphasis on transparency and accountability in public service.
“He was careful about the accountability that people had been talking about,” he said.
“So he made sure that those accounts were rendered to the public through an independent auditor.”
Tanko added that the audited report remains a public document that can be accessed by interested Nigerians.
“I think it is a public document and can be accessed by anybody,” he said.
