The EFCC chairman stressed
that the war against graft was not selective and assured Nigerians that his
agency was not tele-guided in the ongoing anti-corruption fight.
According to PDP, since
former President Jonathan was still alive, he should come out and explain to
Nigerians whether he authorized his former National Security Adviser to
distribute money meant to fight Boko Haram into his campaign.
Addressing Journalists
yesterday in Abuja, PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary Abdullahi Jalo
said, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is alive, he should clarify whether he asked the
National Security Adviser to distribute money meant to fight Boko Haram into
his campaign.
The former Military Administrator
of Kaduna State, Mr Jafaru Isah had returned N100m out of the N170m he
collected and was given administrative bail to source for the balance of N70m.
Another beneficiary, the former
Secretary to the Government of the Federation and leader of the Social
Democratic Party, SDP, Chief Olu Falae however insisted that he would not
refund the N100 million he collected from Chief Tony Anenih, which was said to
have come from Dasuki.
Facts have also emerged how
former Chairman of Board of Trustees, BoT of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih and
Chief Olu Falae entered into a working relationship prior to the 2015
presidential election.
Explaining why the former
president has not been arrested while speaking with online news publishers
yesterday, in Lagos, the EFCC boss, Mr Ibrahim Magu said that no document has
been traced to Jonathan giving any approval for the disbursement of the money
for any purpose other than arms purchase.
He said that all those
questioned so far in connection with the money were people who disbursed or
collected it for reasons other than the purchase of arms and ammunition.
“All approvals by former
president Jonathan did not mention that it was for political purposes.
Speaking about Olisa Metuh,
the EFCC boss revealed that the national publicity secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party said he would rather go on hunger strike than refund the N400
million he allegedly collected from Dasuki.
Magu also said that Patrick
Akpobolokemi, a former boss of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety
Agency, was recently re-arrested after new evidences of alleged embezzlement of
N34.5 billion and another N600 million were linked to him.
According to Jalo,
“Jonathan is alive, he should clarify whether he asked the National Security
Adviser to distribute money meant to fight Boko Haram into his campaign. What
is important for one to know is that former President Goodluck Jonathan is
alive. Has he ever said go and take the money for arms meant for Boko Haram to
campaign for me? Is there anytime that Jonathan asked for anything from either
Dasuki to go and distribute this money meant for fighting Boko Haram for his
campaign?
“As you all know, no single
kobo will be spent by the federal government or former President Goodluck
Jonathan without the Act of the National Assembly. Some people however decided
to divert this money to something else.
“Darkness has now come to
light, we have now discovered that it is not only PDP members who collected the
money but those in APGA collected, Falae collected, Tanko Yakasai collected.
They all collected the money under the guise that they are campaigning for
Goodluck Jonathan.
“It is known to us that
money meant for campaign are given to the national chairmen of various
political parties. We had a dinner in the banquet hall where some billions were
collected meant for campaign for Jonathan. That money was meant for campaign.
Dangote, Otedola and others donated. So why would somebody tell us that you are
taking money meant to fight Boko Haram, which is from an Act of the National
Assembly. Any money appropriated is coming from consolidated account of the
federal government and its usage must be meant for that”.
The PDP which also disowned
the embattled National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh who has remained
detained by the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, said that as a party, it will not fight for his bail and others who have
been alleged to be involved in the arms deal scam because they did that on
personal levels and not on the platform of the party.
According to Jalo, “the
issue of bail does not have anything to do with PDP. Let them tell us how much
they have brought to PDP, to the national chairman and the money used for
campaign, we want to know from them.
“PDP has nothing to do with
individuals that used their companies to get money. PDP has no company, it is a
political platform. There is PDP account and they did not even inform the PDP
that they had received this money, they just went and slept with their families
eating eggs and rice.”
Jalo who noted that public
should not misconstrue the unfolding issues with that of the PDP, said that
individuals that were presently involved, accessed public funds through their
various private companies and not the PDP even though they were members of the
party. He added that the Arms fund were an appropriation of the National
Assembly to which the former President and Sambo Dasuki were aware of and were
aware of the limit of using the funds other than what it was meant for.

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