2015: Presidential campaign fund tears PDP apart

President  Goodluck Jonathan’s camp was believed to have been rattled by the formidable threat that his major challenger, Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was posing, going by the massive support that greeted his campaign rally in all parts of the country, a situation that was said to have activated the ploy to […]

President  Goodluck Jonathan’s camp was believed to have been rattled by the formidable threat that his major challenger, Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was posing, going by the massive support that greeted his campaign rally in all parts of the country, a situation that was said to have activated the ploy to postpone the elections – to give the PDP presidential campaign the opportunity to go back to the drawing board and plug holes that could affect the party’s chances at the presidential election.
Having succeeded in using the military to get INEC to reschedule the polls, the presidency and the PDP allegedly emerged from their strategy room with a plan to use money to turn the tide against the APC. But sharing the millions of naira has been driving wedges between the ranks of the campaign officials of the party across the states, Sunday Trust reports.

Sharing of the largesse
In Yobe State, the local chapter of the PDP is enmeshed in a crisis over various sums of money totalling N400 million sent to it by the national leadership of the party in respect to the forthcoming general elections. The quarrel came to light when candidates of the party from the state complained to the PDP national leadership about not receiving their own share of the money that the presidency and party had disbursed to support its candidates all over the country.
The complaint, it was learnt, prompted the national leadership of the party to call for a meeting to ascertain what had happened to the funds it disbursed to the state chapter of the party in the state.
The matter, it was further gathered, was raised with the national leadership of the party by the House of Representatives candidates at the meeting, which held at the Legacy House and was presided over by the party’s Board of Trustees (BOT) chairman, Chief Tony Anenih. Sources at the meeting said the BOT chairman had been told that the money, dispatched in three instalments, was given to the PDP gubernatorial candidate in the state, Adamu Maina Waziri, for onward disbursement to other candidates to achieve the door-to-door campaign for the candidates of the party, as well as for logistics for the presidential campaigns to hold in the state.
Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki who was at the meeting, sources revealed, blamed the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Abdul Bulama, for not taking charge of the funds, saying as the highest political office holder from the party in the state, he was the leader of the party and should not have allowed others to take charge of funds meant for the party.
The PDP governorship candidate, when contacted, confirmed the meeting but said no such issue came up. He promised to respond, as to whether or not the issue had been raised at the meeting. But various sources at the meeting who craved anonymity confirmed to our correspondent that the meeting held and that the issue came up, with one of the sources saying that only N30 million of the money, which was said to have been given to one of the leaders of the party, was accounted for, while the rest could not be explained.
In President Jonathan’s Bayelsa home state, the dust raised by the N70 million presidential campaign funds released by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to the Bayelsa chapter of the ruling PDP is yet to settle even as the chairman of the party in the state, Sam Inokoba, has dismissed moves to probe and unseat him.
Mr. Inokoba allegedly received the N70 million from Mrs. Alison-Madueke but declared N30 million to the state executives of the party. The party in the state descended into crisis after Mrs. Alison-Madueke reportedly informed party leaders during the PDP’s presidential rally in the state that she advanced N70 million to the party for the rally.
Mr. Inokoba was embarrassed and became uneasy when he was confronted, party insiders said. This prompted members of the Bayelsa State executives of the PDP to set up a panel to probe the chairman on the allegation of diverting N40 million out of the N70 million earmarked for President Jonathan’s rally in Bayelsa.
While the panel hurriedly met and suspended the chairman, Mr. Inokoba shunned the invitation of the state working committee to respond to the allegations, maintaining that he disbursed the funds in compliance with the wishes of the donor and was not guilty of diverting party funds as alleged. He described the reports of his suspension as “a rumour and unconstitutional”.
However, the Presidency swiftly intervened and resolved the Bayelsa PDP crisis in Abuja during the series of meetings with party leaders from the 36 states of the federation. Mr Inokaba, who had refused to accept the decision of the 13 members of the State Working Committee (SEC), was reportedly recognised as the Bayelsa chairman of the party at the meeting of PDP leaders in which the Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio declared President Jonathan would win over 90 percent of the votes cast across the country in the forthcoming 2015 presidential election.
A close aide of the embattled chairman was quoted as saying that the matter has been resolved and the party directed to return to the status quo after the presidency’s intervention. However, the state publicity secretary of the party, Barrister Osom Macgbere, denied knowledge of such resolution and argued that the position of the SEC on the suspension of the party chairman remained the same.
In Edo State the allegation of the diversion of the sum of N1.5 billion donated to the youths during the presidential rally in the state was the crux of the division in the party in the state. It was gathered that barely 48 hours after President Jonathan visited Benin City for the rally, angry youths of the party staged a protest at the state secretariat of the party, accusing the leadership of the party and the state Coordinator of the Goodluck/Sambo campaign organization, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, of diverting the presidential largesse meant for party youths.
The youths, under the aegis of Grassroots Youths Initiative (GYI), barricaded the gates of the party secretariat and vowed to unleash mayhem on the party leadership if the money was not made available to them. But Pastor Ize-Iyamu, in a swift reaction, described the allegation as arrant nonsense, asserting that no such amount was given for the presidential rally. Also, the state chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih said the protest was unnecessary since no such money exists, alleging however that the crisis was being instigated by the state government in order to destabilize the PDP, which, according to him, is stronger in the state now.
Leader of the youths, Osagie Idahosa, who addressed newsmen at the party’s secretariat during a protest, lamented that he used his personal money to mobilize thousands of youth to the stadium for the presidential rally, stressing that Pastor Ize Iyamu had refused to pay him back his money.
Reacting to the allegations by the youths, Ize-Iyamu said their claims were baseless and unfounded, saying that the allegation was being cooked by mischief makers in collaboration with the APC “so as to drag the PDP into crisis ahead the forthcoming elections”.
A face-off is deepening in the camps of the PDP in Nasarawa State over campaign funds sent to the state to campaign for President Jonathan. The face-off among leaders of the party, which began shortly after the January 27 visit of Jonathan to Lafia, capital of the state for his campaign rally, has deepened over the weeks as the governorship campaign team eyes the funds to facilitate its own campaign, Sunday Trust investigations have shown.
But Jonathan’s campaign team in the state has held tight to the funds, committing it to the president’s campaigns in what has provoked accusations and counter-accusations, leading to series of meetings to resolve the issue.
The president’s campaign council in the state, headed by the state deputy governor, Dameshi Barau Luka, first received the sum of N80 million from Jonathan’s campaign organisation in Abuja, preparatory to the PDP presidential candidate’s campaign rally in Lafia. Investigations showed that the council had to approve the release of N25 million to the campaign team of Yusuf Agabi, the governorship candidate, to assist it flag off its campaign in Keffi ahead of the president’s rally.
The N25 million released was the third donation to reach the governorship campaign team; the first being N10 million, and second N25 million, all sourced from leaders of the party from outside the state, inside sources said. The sources said the state presidential campaign council had received the second allocation from Abuja, to the tune of N200 million, from which it proceeded to assist all 24 state legislative candidates with N1.5 million each; and the five House of Representatives candidates were assisted with N2 million each, while the three senatorial candidates were given N3 million each.
 The campaign council also committed N16 million to run the structure of the presidential campaign directorate. But the presidential campaign council shrugged its shoulders to further requests for donations from the governorship campaign team after receiving the second allocation, in what provoked the faceoff, forcing leaders into accusations and counter-accusations of embezzlements on both sides.
At one point, the campaigns were put on hold, in what Sunday Trust gathered was the outcome of the face-off. Inside sources said Luka, and his deputy, Senator Abubakar Sodangi were in Abuja attending meetings, and urged the governorship team to go ahead with its own campaign, in what exposed the anger over Jonathan’s money.
Yohanna Mark Neto, state PDP spokesperson, refused to confirm this, saying: “There are committees set up, and I am not aware of allegations of campaign funds not seen. There are no reports to that effect.” He hailed the Luka-led presidential campaign team for “properly utilizing the funds,” and challenged anybody with complaints over the utilization of the presidential campaign funds to come up publicly.
The presidential campaign council and the governorship campaign council fused for ease of campaigns, and have toured 30 political units comprising 13 local government areas, and 16 development areas, while Lafia, the state capital was stepped down, during which there has been series of meetings to resolve the face-off.
Asked for his comments, Luka, the deputy governor who is the state coordinator for Jonathan, only said: “The funds coming in from Abuja, from the presidential campaign organisation is meant for campaign activities for the president’s re-election only.” He however added: “But the council has approved releases for the campaign of the governorship candidate since we are running a joint campaign, and I can say the journey has been a successful one since then. There are no issues between us.”
In Kano, the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali and the Presidential Adviser on Schools Agriculture Programme, Dr. Barka Sani, are said to be in the forefront of dishing out the president’s largesse.
They are reportedly doing it using their various networks with Shekarau playing the frontline role in the efforts to woo the Kano electorate for President Jonathan. Sunday Trust gathered that Shekarau’s structures in the state are being used for the project. On Thursday, Dr. Sani mobilised 100 organisations to the Royal Tropicana Hotel in the state metropolis where she reportedly disbursed the ‘Jonathan gifts’.
It was gathered that Dr. Sani, who was former Commissioner for Agriculture in Rabui Musa Kwankwaso’s administration, specifically mobilized the leaders of the groups comprising women and youth groups to take Jonathan’s campaign to their various communities.
Speaking at the programme, she urged the groups to contribute towards the continuation of the Jonathan administration, saying changing the government will retard development.
 “We thank you for defying the prevailing intimidation to be on the part of Jonathan and you will not regret it. We are the greatest beneficiaries of this administration,” she said.

The outrage
Similarly, the unit of the presidential campaign organization responsible for mobilizing the civil society was reportedly hit by a corruption scandal that has now affected its operations, with members of the committee sharply divided over the leadership style of its chairman, Prof. Nick Eze.
Some of the committee members accused Prof. Eze of cornering the kick-off funds he received from the Presidency and of sabotaging the entire campaign by abandoning his office and ‘running the committee from his bedroom’.
In one of the reports by online medium Premium Times, Mr. Eze was alleged to have bought a bulletproof Prado SUV, shortly after receiving the kick-off funds, while also cornering other cars meant for the committee. It was reported that the crisis in the committee peaked early February when angered committee members protested alleged claim by Mr. Eze that he had spent N100 million in organizing campaign events.
Some committee members challenged the claim, saying the less than 140 attendees at the events in Abuja and Lagos were drawn locally and paid N3,000 each in stipends and subsequently complained to the National Campaign Adviser, Chief Anenih, who alongside the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters and a close friend of Mr. Eze, Professor Rufai Alkali, intervened.
Professor Eze, however, reportedly dismissed the accusations, saying they were “unfounded” and coming from “jobless people”. He blamed the opposition for sponsoring the “jobless people” making the accusations. Despite the reported denial by President Jonathan’s spokesman Reuben Abati that the presidency doled out billions of naira to various groups, including the Ndigbo community, the unacceptable sharing formula by some of the individuals proved otherwise.
Some of the leaders of Ndigbo resident in Lagos State have confirmed that they were given money by President Goodluck Jonathan during his recent five-day visit to the state to solicit for their and other groups support for his re-election. A former president of Ohaneze, Lagos State, and coordinator of the Goodluck Jonathan Support Group, Dr Oliver Akabueze said that the president solicited for their support and asked the leaders to mobilise Igbos in the state to vote for him.
He said the money received was not a bribe but campaign fund to mobilise the Igbos in the state to vote for the president who is seeking re-election. Akabueze also stated that the president donated a luxury bus for his campaign and that the bus must be fuelled and a driver must be employed to drive the bus around the state during the campaign for Jonathan. He, however, declined to disclose the amount of money the president gave them in Lagos, which was reported to runs into billions of naira.
This is as the Ohanaeze socio-cultural groups was also enmeshed in division over the sharing formula of the N5b reportedly given to the leadership of the body. There were reports that the national leadership and that of the 19 Northern states were at loggerheads over the money and modalities adopted for its sharing. The Director-General of the Igbo Mandate Congress (IMC), Rev. Obinna Akukwe and the president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Kaduna State Chapter who is also the president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the 19 Northern States, Barrister A. C. Amechi, described what Ohanaeze Ndigbo national body did to President Jonathan as “a scam”.
Amaechi , in his word, said: “It is wickedness to scam an innocent man (Jonathan) of billions of naira, share it among yourselves and not remit a single kobo to any Ohanaeze chapter in the North, yet you tell the man that all is in control among Igbos in the North. For Jonathan to get sizeable votes  in the north, he needs the mobilization of Ohanaeze Ndigbo who are the grassroots leaders and not these people sitting comfortably in the East and Abuja.”
He demanded that those who scammed the President must return the money to Mr. Jonathan. On his part the President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Taraba State, Chief Timothy Nwadike, said they were still waiting to receive what Jonathan brought to use to campaign for him but that the national body has not given us anything”.
Also the chairman Imeobi Ohanaeze Taraba State Chapter, Engr. Emeka Chukwuegbo told Rev Akukwe that they hope they remit what Jonathan gave to them. He said: “We, in Taraba State, have not received any money from anywhere and our people and other ethnic nationalities are already exiting the state.”
On his part the chairman Imeobi Ohanaeze Niger State Chapter, Chief J. C. Onuigbo, in his complaint over the “scam”, said the “Igbos in Niger State want to vote for Jonathan but it is disheartening to hear that the money brought for that purpose was shared among themselves and we in the North are not mobilized yet”. Chief Onuigbo added that “as at now Igbos in Niger State are contributing N200 each for security and mobilization for the election yet the parent body has shared billions of naira”.
President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Niger State Chapter, Chief Emmanuel Ezeudo, condemned the heinous scamming of President Jonathan, and decried the attitude of the national body of Ohanaeze Ndigbo who he alleged are in the habit of taking decisions and sharing money among themselves without consulting states chapters’ presidents.
Also, Chief Chekwas Okorie, founding member of the Ohaneze Ndigbo and founder of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), while speaking to journalists in Enugu reportedly said that, “They (Ohanaeze leaders) are now exposing themselves to public ridicule. They are now accusing them of collecting N5 billion for an endorsement and they are denying they didn’t collect. But, definitely, they are dishing out some money to chapters of Ohanaeze. Where did that money come from?