Following the defeat suffered by President Goodluck
Jonathan and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party,
during the March 28 and April 11 elections, the President
has asked the party and government officials who handled
campaign funds to refund monies not spent, or those not
judiciously expended, SUNDAY PUNCH can authoritatively
report.
Jonathan, credible sources said, has also set up a
committee of five to get those with the funds to return
them.
Sources within the party and government told our
correspondents that President Jonathan was disturbed that
despite giving campaign coordinators, ministers, special
advisers, close aides and friends, support groups and
traditional rulers over N2trn in cash, most of them could
not deliver their polling booths and local governments.
The President was said to have been further irked by the
results of an investigation he ordered. The probe showed
that some coordinators used campaign funds to buy very
expensive properties, especially in Abuja, and luxury cars.
Some of the funds have also been traced to the bank
accounts of senior party and government officials who were
charged with the disbursement of funds to voters and
groups.
A reliable source within the Presidency told our
correspondents that one of the President, who recently
admitted to a few close aides that it would be difficult to
retrieve all the funds, was bent on getting senior party and
government officials who received funds to account for all
monies collected.
The source who is a close associate of the president said
monies given to traditional rulers in different parts of the
country, for example, would not be demanded for. But the
source was quick to add that the President was determined
to get his ministers, close aides and special advisers to
make refunds.
He said, “Some ministers did not get less than N20bn each.
None of them can deny it because this fact isn’t hidden
within government circles. The only problem with such
monies is that there is no receipt to show that they
collected money. The sad part is that almost all of them
performed woefully. Even in the states where the PDP won,
some ministers could not deliver 100,000 votes. They could
not mobilise their people to come out. The President is not
happy. They all went property and car shopping. This was
the most expensive election in the history of this country,
yet there was no result.
“The sad part was that even after the President lost on
March 28, more money was given to all of them to make up
for the dismal outing by winning their states during the April
11 elections. But that turned out to be a bad decision
because apart from losing the governorship election, we
didn’t perform well at the National Assembly and House of
Representatives polls.
“They must give an account of the money since they didn’t
use it for the election. The President is not particular about
the funds spent on genuine campaign needs like the hiring
of jets, advertisements and the rest that also cost billions of
naira. His focus is on the individuals that collected billions
to deliver their states but couldn’t even win their polling
booths.”
Our correspondents gathered that apart from the N20bn
given to some key ministers and senior special advisers,
especially in states where the PDP hoped to capture from
the opposition All Progressives Congress, some pro-
Jonathan support groups received about N16bn.
A former legislator who was to print five million recharge
cards, T-shirts and base ball caps has also come under
pressure to account for the billions she received because
only a few people got the items she was paid to produce.
Also, a top female politician in Lagos who got a contract to
produce and supply thousands of mobile phones with pro-
Jonathan messages was said to have produced just a few
and pocketed most of the funds.
It was learnt that the funds Jonathan released were
disbursed in three phases. Some were released before the
March 28 elections, others on the day of the presidential
election and more before the April 11 governorship polls.
Already, the committee of five has started asking some of
the campaign coordinators and ministers who received a
minimum of N20bn each to give an account and also refund
residual funds where applicable.
However, our correspondents learnt that most of the people
who received the funds had not cooperated with the
committee. While some have not been forthcoming, others
have simply ignored the committee.
Jonathan is said to be particularly focusing on the South-
West and northern states.
In Lagos, a popular PDP chieftain who lost in his polling
booth reportedly received $50m in cash a few days before
the governorship elections.
A senior PDP party member who spoke to one of our
correspondents in Lagos over the weekend confirmed the
cash splurge in Lagos.
The source said, “Lagos was a show of shame. A few days
to the governorship poll, about $150m was received in cash
by about five top campaign coordinators. But they failed
again, even more than we did in the presidential poll
because we lost some areas we won on March 28 to the
APC on April 11. They were to share this money to the local
governments and the masses.
“Please understand me, I am saying that the sum of $150m
was just for the governorship election in Lagos. We are not
talking about the sums they got for the presidential election.
Only one out of the five people that shared the money gave
some of it to local government chairmen. This person
disbursed about N2bn. The rest of them sat on the money.
“The coordinator that collected the sum of $50m later went
to a Federal Government agency and complained of not
having enough funds for the election and got an additional
$20m. The story is the same in almost all the South-West
especially Oyo, Osun, and the northern states. A female
minister from the North, who got the highest amount of
funds for that region, lost her state in a shameful manner.”
Confirming that campaign directors in different parts of the
country had been asked for an audit, the PDP Campaign
Director in Akwa Ibom, Mr. Idongesit Nkanga, said the
instruction was not new.
He stated that the PDP’s campaign organisation in the state
had concluded its audit.
“It is the normal thing. It is the right thing to do for
transparency’s sake,” he said.
Nkanga said he would not be able to comment on the
refund because he did not collect money from anyone.
According to him, the PDP’s campaign organisation in Akwa
Ibom State received a letter for an audit from the PDP
campaign headquarters.
He explained that “because the letter emanated from the
national headquarters of the party, they were under
obligation to submit the audit report about the campaign’s
expenditure to them.”
He maintained that at the campaign headquarters, some of
the information was available, adding that he would not be
able to give SUNDAY PUNCH accurate details offhand to
avoid possible conflict in the figures.
Asked what sanctions would be meted out to defaulters,
Nkanga said they might be prosecuted.
However, our correspondent reports that prosecution, while
not impossible, may be difficult as most of the monies
disbursed were not receipted.
Contacted, the national leadership of the ruling PDP said it
did not know anything about the money spent on its
presidential campaign.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Olisa Metuh,
stated this in an interview with one of our correspondents in
Abuja on Saturday.
Metuh said only those put in charge of the funds were in a
position to account for the monies.
He said, “The national leadership of the PDP is not aware of
any campaign fund. We were not part of it and therefore we
can’t be asked to account for what we didn’t know anything
about.
“There was a campaign committee and only the committee
is in the position to account for any fund.”
Efforts made to speak with the Director-General of the PDP
Presidential Campaign Organisation, Sen. Ahmadu Ali were
unsuccessful.
Ali, a former national chairman of the party, did not pick his
call and also failed to respond to a text message sent to
him.
Similarly, efforts to get the Presidency’s reaction did not
yield any result as calls made to the telephone line of the
presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, as at 10.30pm did
not connect




http://www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-demands-n2trn-election-funds-refund-audit/

Oga Jona Must be a Joker!!! Clueless as always

This reports better not be true. If it is true I will be surprised if GEJ did not serve a jail term. Two tri kini? When we have no power supply, when there are no good roads?

Yet some religion and ethnic bigots will tell me GEJ is a saint. Even the devil now fears for his throne as GEJ may just dethrone the devil.

LMAO where are the "GEJ my hero" I hope this will make fp so they will see it

GEJ... GEJ....GEJ... I hope this news is wrong by a very long shot ooo,if not enh.. trillions for an election? This is simply pathetic...

2trillion... Chai....




Assuming we Give every voter 500,000 naira to vote Jonah...

2,000,000,000,000\500,000=4,000,000... The man d still be smelling today.


This man is really clueless whalahi

Biggest maga hahahahahahahaha

I thought jonathan says he is not despirate for power yet he spent 2tr on election.