FORMER chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih has revealed that the N260 million paid to him by the office of the former national security adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd) was on the instruction of former president Goodluck Jonathan.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is currently probing the $2.1 billion arms contract scandal involving the ex-NSA boss, Dasuki.
The former NSA is alleged to have shared the money meant for the purchase of arms to fight insurgency to boost the reelection of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the March 28, 2015 presidential election.
Some prominent PDP leaders and politicians including Anenih were named as beneficiaries of the money.
However, a source at the EFCC said that Anenih in his letter to the commission stated that the N260 million paid to him by the NSA’s office was a refund of part of the N440 million he expended to execute assignments at the request former president Jonathan.
Another source close to the ex-PDP BoT chair said the former president was yet to pay an outstanding N180 million owed to Anenih before he left office.
The EFCC source said Anenih in the letter claimed that though the refund of N260 million was made through the office of the former national security adviser, he did not give his account numbers to the NSA office. Instead, he stated that he only provided his account details to the former president on request for a refund of the money spent on the campaign.
The PDP BoT chairman stated in the letter that he was not in a position to ask Jonathan how he was going to source the fund or through which office the refund was going to be made.
Giving a breakdown of how he spent N440 million on the campaign, Anenih in the letter submitted that he, on the instruction ex-president Jonathan gave N25 million to the former deputy governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Mukhtar Shagari and N35 million to a delegation of local government leaders from Katsina State.
Besides, he said on the instruction of the Jonathan, he led BoT members on a nationwide reconciliation tour, stressing that the money he spent on hiring private jet that flew them round the country was provided from his pocket and was also not refunded to him.
He further explained in the letter that he gave N63 million to a northern group led by elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai for mobilization and post-election peace advocacy in that part of the country, while N100 million was given to the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Olu Falae, to enable the party to mobilize support and votes for Jonathan.
In the same vein, he told the EFCC that he gave N100 million to the Leader of Accord Party, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, to equally enable the party to back the candidacy of Jonathan. He said the total of the three disbursements amounted to N263 million, three million less of what the NSA’s office paid to him.
The trio of Yakassai, Falae and Ladoja had confirmed that they received the stated amounts from Anenih.
Washing his hands off the arms contract deals, Anenih said he knew nothing about the money. He told the anti-graft body that he made personal sacrifices to ensure that the candidate of his party won by accepting to use his personal money to pick some campaign bills, lamenting that he could not recover all the money he expended at the end of the day.
Source: SunNews