The National Chairman of the Social
Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae, on Monday said he would not return
the controversial N100m he collected from a former Chairman, Board of
Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, as ordered
by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The money was said to have been part of
the $2.1bn from the Office of a former National Security Adviser, Col.
Sambo Dasuki (retd.), meant for the purchase of arms to fight Boko Haram
in the North-East.
The National Publicity Secretary of the
SDP, Dr. Abdulahmed Isiaq, at a press conference which he addressed on
behalf of Falae in Abuja, explained that the amount was given to him for
onward delivery to his party.
The money, he said, was to assist in
campaigning and mobilising support for the re-election of ex-President
Goodluck Jonathan. He added that the SDP was not paid through the Office
of the former NSA.
He therefore asked the Federal
Government to hold Anenih and the PDP responsible for the source of the
money rather than the SDP.
Falae insisted that the SDP would not
return any money to the government coffers, since the money it got was
neither from Dasuki nor the ONSA.
He explained that the money was as a
result of electoral alliance to which his party entered into with the
then ruling PDP, to deliver Jonathan’s re-election quest.
The SDP leader said those who were
returning money to the government were those who got money directly from
the ONSA, adding that he did not get the money from Dasuki or the
office he was occupying.
Falae said, “In terms of refund of
money, I want to say here that those people who are refunding money are
those who got their money directly from the arms fund. Our funds did not
come from the arms deal; our funds came from an electoral alliance with
the PDP and we knew that the PDP had a fund-raising committee that
gathered billions of naira and the PDP had been in government for 16
years.
“So, with that, we knew that the PDP had the capacity to fund the alliance that was formed with them by the SDP.
“You don’t postulate what you don’t have on the ground, you can’t build on a non-foundation.
“We, as a political party, knew that the
PDP was a capable hand in the electoral alliance which we entered into.
And we equally knew that the PDP had a fund-raising dinner, where it
generated over N20bn. So, whether the money came from Col. Sambo Dasuki
or his office, is what we don’t know and it is left for them to ask
Chief Tony Anenih to explain.
“We knew that the PDP had been ruling
Nigeria for 16 years. So, this was the basis for our electoral alliance
with them. We can’t refund any money to anybody because the money we got
as a party came because of the alliance we had with the PDP and we have
an agreement note for this alliance.
“If it is possible that the money Chief
Anenih gave us was from the arms deal, it is left for them to ask Chief
Anenih to clarify. As far as we know, we did not have any dealing with
Dasuki. Our office did not ever have anything to do with the office or
person of the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki.”
Isiaq explained that prior to the 2015
presidential election, the SDP was approached by the PDP through Anenih,
for electoral alliance for the re-election bid of Jonathan.
He said Falae, being the national
chairman of the SDP, summoned the National Executive Committee of the
SDP to a well-attended meeting to consider the PDP’s proposal of
electoral alliance for the re-election bid of Jonathan since the SDP did
not field a presidential candidate.
He, however, said, his party was in full
support of the ongoing fight against corruption, adding that anyone
found wanting should be prosecuted according to the laws of the land.
“If you look at the cardinal principles
of the SDP, one of the basic one is that of zero tolerance to
corruption. So, anywhere there is fight against corruption, the SDP is
in support, once it is done according to the ambit of the law.
“In terms of the misappropriation of
arms deal fund, as a party, I want to say that anybody who violates the
law should face the consequences,” he stated.
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