President Goodluck demands N2trn election funds refund, audit
Following the defeat suffered by APC 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.
Jonathan, credible sources said, has also set up a committee of five to get those with the funds to return them.
Following the defeat suffered by APC 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.
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.
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