The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Olisa Metuh has distanced the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) from the controversy surrounding the handling of the PDP Presidential campaign funds saying the NWC never received any amount from any quarters for the campaigns.
Metuh who stated this while fielding questions at a radio programme in Abuja on Monday also noted that President Goodluck Jonathan has denied ever spending the bandied N2 trillion on his campaigns but added that NWC was not involved in the management of any fund released for the campaign.
He further explained that all funds during the campaign were directed and managed by the Directorates of the Presidential Campaign Organizations, which the NWC had no control over.
“As a party, we have refrained from joining issues publicity on this matter, but in the light of series of enquiries arising from allegations that the NWC embezzled the money meant for the campaigns, we need to make some clarifications.
“As the spokesperson of the PDP, I want to place it on record that the National Working Committee was not part of the management of funds for the Presidential campaigns. The NWC did not receive any money neither was it in any way involved in how the funds were spent. Even as the National Publicity Secretary of the party and Chairman of the Publicity Sub-Committee, I did not receive any money from anybody and no fund whatsoever was given to me for the campaign.
“Apparently out of ignorance, this NWC has been unjustly demonized and labeled. How can anybody expect the NWC to account for funds it never received? Can we account for funds we did not manage? The President in his wisdom set up Directorates and gave them the responsibility to directly manage the elections including the funding”, Metuh said.
The PDP spokesman decried the unnecessary heating up of the party system by certain elements who, apparently have been hired by some divisive elements within and outside the party to sponsor negative publications ostensibly to pull down the leadership.
Calling on these individuals to desist from such, the PDP spokesman urged all party members to unite and support the leadership in its re-engineering efforts aimed at returning the party back to power in 2019.
He said the primary focus of the leadership at the moment is how to ensure that the party’s candidates in all the rescheduled elections across the country emerge victorious while also perfecting all processes to ensure that those who fell victim of the irregularities that characterized the 2015 elections reclaim their mandates.
