Jonathan campaign fund tears PDP apart in Nasarawa state

Funding to pay for Jonathan campaign has caused a rift in the People’s Democratic Party in Nasarawa, investigations reveal. But officials have denied allegations of any faceoff between both campaigns. “We are hearing from outside that we are having issues over campaign funds, but it is imaginary,” Nasarawa deputy governor Dameshi Luka, who heads Jonathan’s […]

Funding to pay for Jonathan campaign has caused a rift in the People’s Democratic Party in Nasarawa, investigations reveal.

But officials have denied allegations of any faceoff between both campaigns.

“We are hearing from outside that we are having issues over campaign funds, but it is imaginary,” Nasarawa deputy governor Dameshi Luka, who heads Jonathan’s presidential campaign in the state, said.

“There is no one individual who can approve and spend from the funds; it takes the presidential campaign council to make approvals and releases from the funds sent from Abuja,” Luka added.

“There are no embezzlements.”

The faceoff is thought to have started among party leaders shortly after the January 27 visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to Nasarawa state capital Lafia on a campaign rally.

It deepened as the party’s governorship team eyes the funds to facilitate its own campaign.

But Jonathan’s campaign team in Nasarawa has kept a tight hold on the fund, prompting several accusations and a raft of meeting to reach a resolution.

Here’s what’s known so far:

• Jonathan’s Nasarawa campaign council, headed by Luka, first got N80m from the campaign’s Abuja headquarters, shortly before Jonathan’s rally in Lafia.
• The council, investigations reveal, approved release of N25 to the campaign team of Yusuf Agabi, the governorship candidate, to help flag off his campaign ahead of Jonathan’s rally.
• The N25m was the third donation to reach the governorship campaign team.
• The first donation was N10 million, and a second was N25 million, all sourced from party leaders outside Nasarawa, inside sources say.
• Sources also say council for the president’s campaign in Nasarawa received a second allocation from Abuja, some N200m.
• From that figure, the council assisted all 24 state legislature candidates with N1.5m each, five House of Representatives candidates with N2m each, and three senatorial candidates with N3m each.
• The campaign council also committed N16 million to run the structure of the presidential campaign directorate.

But the presidential campaign council shrugged off further requests for donations from the governorship campaign team after the second remittance.

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.

Lafia tour was stepped down to allow for series of meetings to resolve the faceoff.

Asked to comment, Luka 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.”