Sunday, August 24, 2008
As Nigeria has perfected the art of international fraud with official acquiescence many a time, it came as no surprise when the Obama team in the United States wrote to a Nigerian leadership group with deep roots in government to dissociate itself from a fund raising event ostensibly to support Obama’s campaign.
Even if the Obama team was to ensure that they did not foul the American political campaign rule of not receiving international support exceeding a certain amount, which clearly the Nigerian funds raised exceeded, it was good politics not to allow it to be tainted by political scams emanating from no where less than the god-father of African corruption-Nigeria.
However, in the face of concerns, organizers of the gala night say the money raised is not meant for the Obama campaign. They claim the main idea of the fund raising dinner was meant to encourage Nigerian Americans to vote for Obama. Obama’s campaign however wrote to make it clear it was not affiliated to Africans for Obama and was not interested in any contributions. The event raised an amount of $840,000.