In Lagos, a popular PDP chieftain who lost in his
polling booth reportedly received $50m in cash a
few days before the governorship elections
N20bn each given to some key ministers and
senior special advisers, especially in states where
the PDP hoped to capture from the opposition
Some pro-Jonathan support groups received
about N16bn each
“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.
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.

Ok Na!!

Dem don swallow na, Shey dem fit vommit am except them get malaria abi na

LMAO where are the "GEJ My Hero"? I hope this will make fp so they can see it

Na their bizness.