PDP crisis deepens as Jonathan’s associates reveal how NWC members enriched selves

Documentary evidence has reportedly been released by President Goodluck Jonathan’s allies, revealing that members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, actually stole funds belonging to the party’s treasury shortly after the President was defeated in the March 28 presidential election.

Two close associates of the president told Sahara Reporters about what one of them described as, “shameless stealing of party funds by officials entrusted with running the affairs of the party.” They added that President Jonathan felt betrayed by the “greedy actions” of the NWC members.

The Presidency officials presented internal vouchers to the online portal showing that the party’s NWC members shelled out over a quarter of a billion naira in unexplained fees to themselves on April 8, 2015.

The monies, which were reportedly paid out of the party’s Zenith Bank account number ending with 6016, showed that the party’s national chairman, Adamu Muazu, was paid N100 million through Julius Berger PLC while the deputy chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, received N40 million.

The documents provided by the insiders further revealed that the PDP’s national secretary, Adewale Oladipo, got N30 million. Other members who got N30 million each include the PDP national treasurer, Buhari Bala; national financial secretary, Bolaji Akpan Anani; national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh; national auditor, Adeyanju Fatai; national organizing secretary, Abubakar Mustapha, national women leader, Kema Chikwe; national Legal adviser, Victor Yusuf Kwon among others.

Aside the scandalous payments, another set of documents shows that the PDP also compelled delegates to its annual convention to pay N10,000 each into the private accounts of Marufi Nigeria Limited. One of the Presidency sources described the company as a fraudulent front linked to a top member of the NWC.

One of the Presidency officials stated that the NWC members contributed greatly to the defeat suffered by President Jonathan, adding that they were more interested in pursuing their pecuniary interests than the party’s corporate interest as “They were too busy helping themselves to party funds as President Jonathan’s campaign suffered.”

But in a fierce rebuttal, most NWC members told SaharaReporters that President Jonathan was the architect of his own failure, with one of them saying, “He was the person running the country, not members of the NWC. If Nigerians turned against him, it’s not because of anything the NWC did or didn’t do”.

Another NWC member alleged that President Jonathan and his closest associates operated the president’s multi-billion dollar campaign using structures outside the party; while one other accused the President of planning to hijack the party in order to place his loyalists in place in anticipation of running for office again in 2019.

The NWC official accused Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State of leading the plot to remove the Muazu-led NWC. Reacting to this, another member vowed that they, “are determined to ensure that nobody can just pocket a party that many eminent Nigerians contributed to establish” Reacting officially to the allegation, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh told the medium that the payments was made to assist NWC for the Governorship and state house of assembly elections that took place on April 11th 2015. He noted that since the Presidency was more concerned about transparency, the Presidential Campaign Council should publish how it gave out N700 million to each state and most importantly how the Presidency spent Nigerian resources within the last 6 years.