Professor Pat Utomi the of Labur Party (LP), has announced plans for portals to help Nigerians at home and in diaspora to donate funds to aid the campaign of the presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi.
The LP chieftain who is also a professor of political economy made this known in an interview with Sunday Politics, over the weekend.
Utomi, said the portals will he launched by next week and he further noted that there are no issues with the citizens donating funds to support political campaigns in the country while stating that during his time as a presidential aspirant, he had received such supports, too.
In his words: “When the time is right, the diaspora will give money. They have always given money to campaigns. I ran for president before and got support from the diaspora in 2006 and 2007 and then when I ran in 2011.
“When the time is right, we are going to solicit from Nigerians across the board. We are setting up portals where people can give money.
He added: “These portals are not up yet. They would be up next week or so and eventually, we are going to be able to access resources from the diaspora for sure.
”But right now, we are on a sensitization tour about what makes democracy work. Right now, Nigeria’s democracy is not working because of the transaction cost involved and the trade-off that has to be made,” the LP chieftain said.
When asked if the donation of funds from Nigerians in diaspora was not in contradiction to some laws, the professor of political economy said that there are no such laws that stop Nigerians in diaspora from raising funds to support political campaigns.
Utomi in response said: “I am completely aware of what the law says. If we open a portal, Nigerians who want to support what we stand for should contribute to it.
”If you say Nigerians abroad can’t go to a portal and contribute a dollar and those at home, you have prevented them from voting.
“Every other African country manages to allow their diaspora to vote – Ghana, Kenya, everybody.”
