Former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode will
have to live without one of his accounts for now.
The account has been frozen by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as it
steps up investigation into the alleged N4billion
campaign bazaar cash received from ex-
President Goodluck Jonathan in the build-up to
the 2015 elections.
The funds were allegedly withdrawn from the
Central Bank of
Nigeria(CBN) and shared to 10
other directors, directorates, zonal directors and
state directors of the Presidential Campaign
Organization of Jonathan.
Fani-Kayode declared yesterday that he knew
nothing about the withdrawal of the cash from
the CBN or funding of the campaign by the
former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo
Dasuki.
But he admitted that campaign funds were paid
into the account of a company linked with a
former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman,
from where it was shared to him and others.
He dared the EFCC to “do their worse” in a
statement in Abuja entitled “The Money
Transfers and the Truth about the Presidential
Campaign Funds.”
The beneficiaries may be arrested for questioning
by the anti-graft agency.
Details of the largesse sharing are as follows:
Fani-Kayode (N840million); Goodluck Support
Group (N320million); Achike Udenwa and Viola
Onwuliri (N350million); Nenadi Usman
(N140million); and Okey Ezenwa (N100million).
Giving his own side of the story,Fani-Kayode
said he received the funds from ex-President
Jonathan and he is accountable only to the
former leader and not the EFCC.
He said the funds disbursed were not from
public coffers and these were routed through a
private company.
His words: “Our funds were given to us by the
President who was the leader of our party
through the Director of Finance of the PCO and
we were not in a position to inquire into the
sources of funding of the party’s campaign.
Indeed, it was not our responsibility to do so.
“Once I got these clarifications and
confirmations, I agreed to receive the funds into
my bank account and use them for their stated
purpose.
“The transfers were made and I used the funds
to carry out all our operations during the course
of the presidential campaign.
“It was an aggressive and well-run campaign and
we gave our opponents a very hard time indeed.
It was also very expensive and we barely had
the resources that we really needed, but we did
an effective job with the little we were given.
“The whole nation, including our friends and our
enemies, can bear witness to that and they saw
the excellent quality of our work. Hardly anyone
can dispute this, yet some fail to appreciate the
fact that such a strong showing costs a lot of
money. Media and publicity campaigns cannot be
run on goodwill alone. You need cash and plenty
of it.
“During the course of the election and after its
conclusion, I submitted detailed accounts of our
expenses and evidence of our work to the
Director of Finance of the PCO for onward
transmission to the Director-General of the PCO
and ultimately President Jonathan himself about
how the money was spent and they were
satisfied.
“Given the fact that these were not public funds,
the only legal body that can inquire into our
expenditure of campaign funds is President
Goodluck Jonathan who set up the PCO.”
Continuing, he said: “I cannot sit by silently as
my name is dragged through the mud in this way
and I am convicted in the court of public opinion.
This has happened to me once before and it took
me seven years to clear my name. It will not
happen to me again.
“Consequently I am constrained to take this
opportunity to state the facts of this matter, set
the record straight and await my traducers and
accusers to make their next move. It is indeed
time to challenge those that are making these
allegations and to kill the lie.
“ The fact that my bank account was frozen on
the orders of the EFCC two weeks ago without
any explanation is proof of the fact that I am
being targeted and that those that seek to have
their wicked way with me are about to pounce.
“Given this, it is important that all the relevant
facts are put before the world before I am
subjected to the Dasuki treatment, put away
indefinitely and not given the opportunity to
defend myself before the public. Meanwhile, in
their usual manner, after this is done, the EFCC
will then flood the media with all manner of lies
about my so-called atrocities which only exist in
the figment of their imagination.
“The allegation of fraud and the receipt of public
funds from the National Security Adviser’s Office
and Central Bank into my bank account are
false.
“These allegations are baseless, wicked,
shameful and irresponsible. It is not true that any
money was paid into my account by or from the
National Security Adviser’s Office, the Central
Bank of Nigeria or any other government agency
or institution last year or at any other time.”
He said the funds were wired into his account
and others through a company associated with
ex-Minister Nenadi Usman.
”As the Director of Media and Publicity of the
Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organization, I
was asked to submit a budget for my Directorate
by Chief Tony Anenih, the Presidential Adviser to
the Presidential Campaign Organization and Mrs.
Nenadi Usman, the Director of Finance.
“My team and I prepared the budget and it was
approved.
“Rather than collect cash, for security reasons
and the purposes of accountability, I was
advised by the Director of Finance to open a
bank account for this purpose, which I did.
“The funds were paid into that account in
instalments at the beginning of last year by the
Director of Finance and each deposit was
authorized and approved by the Presi dential
Adviser to the PCO, Chief Tony Anenih.
“The account that they used to transfer the
money to me was a private company account
which was owned or under the control of the
Director of Finance.
“It was the same company account that was
used to send money to all the other Directors of
the PCO and the Zonal Directors, State Directors
and all our PDP governorship and legislative
candidates during the various campaigns.
“ When I asked about the sources of the funds, I
was told by the Director of Finance that the
funds were sourced from private individuals and
private companies who opted to support and
fund President Jonathan’s campaign. She told
me that no money was paid into her company
from any government official, account or agency.
This she told me in the presence of witnesses
and I believed her.
“ I was told that there was a fundraising event
held by our party (PDP) which took place in early
January 2015 in which billions of naira were
raised specifically for the Presidential campaign.
I believed this to be true and I had no reason to
doubt it.”
The ex-Minister said the slush funds were
shared to 10 other directors, directorates, zonal
directors and state directors of the Presidential
Campaign Organization of Jonathan.”
He wondered why he has been the subject of
“absurd and outlandish headline stories in
various newspapers which have accused me of
being a fraudster and which have claimed that
funds were transferred into my bank account by
the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo
Dasuki, and by the Governor of the Central Bank
of Nigeria.”
Such stories, he claimed , portrayed him as
having used public funds for the campaign of
President Goodluck Jonathan.
He branded such stories as petty, shameful,
nauseating and “ also a reflection of the
desperation of those that seek to pull me down
and destroy me simply because my opposition to
this government has been unrelenting.”
“ In January 2015, I was appointed as the
Director of Media and Publicity for the Jonathan/
Sambo Presidential Campaign Organization by
President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Director-General of the Campaign
Organization was Senator Ahmadu Alli and the
Deputy Director-Generals were Alhaji Ibrahim
Turaki SAN (North) and Governor Peter Obi
(South).
Chief Tony Anenih, an elder statesman and one
of the most distinguished and revered leaders in
our country, was the Presidential Adviser to the
campaign organization.
“There were at least 10 other directors and
directorates apart from me and mine including
the Directorate of Mobilization which was led by
the respected Professor Jerry Gana and the
Directorate of Administration which was led by
Alhaji Aliyu Modibbo. There were also zonal and
state directors of the Presidential Campaign
Organization in all the zones and states of the
country.
“All these names that I have mentioned including
all the other directors whose names I have not
mentioned are, as far as I am aware, men and
women of immense integrity and good character
and they have mostly been either ministers of
the Federal Republic or state governors at one
time or the other in our history. It was an honour
to serve alongside such people and I have
absolutely no regrets about doing so.
“Yet given the fact that I was not the only
director in the campaign organization and in view
of the fact that all the directors and zonal and
state directors got their funds from the same
source and account as I did, one wonders why
only I and three others should be singled out for
this reprehensible treatment and these false
allegations.
“ I chose to remain silent on the issue until now
simply because the allegations have not been
officially made by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) or anyone else, but
the newspapers keep citing their sources “inside
the EFCC” as their basis for these shameful
allegations.
Mr. Josef Goebbels, Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s
information minister, when Germany was in the
terrible grip of the Nazi party, said that once a
lie is repeated enough times, it becomes truth to
those who are continuously subjected to it. This
is especially so if it goes unchallenged.”
Fani-Kayode, who took swipes at the EFCC and
The Nation in his statement, asked the anti-graft
agency to “do the worst.”
He said: “Yet if this is an attempt to intimidate,
silence or distract me, they shall fail because I
am not a coward and I do not fear them or those
that sent them to torment me.
“As long as Jesus is on the throne and our
hands are clean, no matter how long it takes, we
shall prevail and ultimately they will pay a heavy
price for their malice, injustice and wickedness.
“These are facts and readers can be rest
assured that I will say nothing different from this
if and when I am formally asked by anyone or
any agency.
“When the EFCC begins to leak their falsehood
and salacious allegations to their agents in the
media, kindly take note of the fact that, as usual,
they will be telling tall tales and they will be
lying.
“Now I challenge them to do their worse. I have
no fear of them or of those who have sent them
to do this dirty job. May God judge them all and
may He reward them for their wickedness.
“The suggestion that the money was some kind
of “cash bonanza” or “bazaar” as has been
reported by the leading pro-government
newspaper in the country today is childish and
absurd.
“If that had been the case, I doubt that I would
have been foolish enough to open a bank
account to receive government funds or “bazaar
funds” as this would have been easily traced.
“If I had anything to hide or if I was doing
anything wrong, I would have insisted on
collecting cash for my operations which would
have been far easier to conceal.
“The fact that the EFCC gained access to my
bank account and leaked details of it to the
media, including my inflows, is not only a gross
violation of my privacy, but it is also unlawful.”
No comments:
Post a Comment