No Missing N10bn, PDP Insists

By Joseph Ayinde

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has again debunked the allegation that N10 billion that was generated from sales of forms from the 2019 election is missing and challenged its accuser, Mr. Kassim Afegbua, a former member of its Presidential Campaign Council, to show evidence of the alleged missing fund.

Afegbua, in a petition to both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), had accused the PDP of diverting the N10 billion realised from sales of forms and donations to the party, and demanded a probe into the allegation.

But the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said party members and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party have not complained of missing funds, adding that the money generated from sales of forms was N4.6 billion.

According to him, the money was duly paid into the designated account approved by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

Both Ologbondiyan and Afegbua spoke yesterday on the ‘Morning Show,’ a programme of ARISE NEWS Channel.

Ologbondiyan, who dismissed the allegation of financial misappropriation, said the accusation is libellous, threatening that the PDP would sue Afegbua to seek redress.

He said PDP did not operate unauthorised accounts and that all financial dealings of the party were carried out through the due process and were approved by the National Executive Committee, which is the highest organ of the party.

He added: “Afegbua is only fishing in an ocean of rumours and the party is not troubled by his action. He has taken the case to the EFCC and ICPC, yet he has no clear evidence against the party. By the time the party finishes with the EFCC, the party will definitely engage him within the party level.

“If Afegbua is really a member of the PDP as he claims to be, he should study the constitution of the party, and I am sure that by the time he finishes reading the constitution, he will discover his own foolishness. I say this because it is clear in the party’s constitution, who has powers over financial expenditures. Even the National Working Committee of the party has no power of its own on financial matters and Afegbua whose position as a member of the party is not yet determined is making a frivolous accusation.”

Ologbondiyan who accused Afegbua of playing anti-party politics, said during 2019 elections, Afegbua was in PDP, but in 2020, he jumped to another party and campaigned for a candidate who was not a member of PDP.

He accused him of coming from the blues with a petition to EFCC against the PDP, saying that his action was simply to bring down the roof of the party because he demanded a party position that was not given to him.
Ologbondiyan, however, said the claim of N10 billion generated from the sales of forms as alleged by Afegbua, was laughable because there was no evidence to support such claim.

He said the PDP had always worked with audited accounts and would continue to present its accounts for auditing by external auditors as stipulated in the party’s constitution.

However, Afegbua said he would pursue the case to a logical conclusion, stressing that he will not be intimated by any blackmail.

He said: “I stand by my position that the money realised from sales of forms and other donations was N10 billion, but even with the insistence from the party that only N4.6 billon was raised, I will still want the EFCC and ICPC to investigate whether the N4.6 billon was generated based on the existing financial standards of the party or whether there was money laundering. I say this because I am aware that the party uses several unauthorised accounts because when I bought my form to contest in the 2019 election for House of Representatives, I paid N1.5 million and I was made to pay the money into a consultant account and I was issued a receipt.

“Ologbondiyan and the party members are saying ‘I do not have the legal right to accuse them of wrongdoings because I am no longer a member of the party, having been suspended last year,’ but they forgot to understand that my suspension from the party was for one month, which expired September 2, 2020.”
Afegbua also dismissed Ologbondiyan’s defence, saying that his argument was shallow because he lacked the knowledge of the party’s history.

According to him, the party must show true accountability of all its spending since 2019 elections till date, and the evidence of money received and expended must be presented before the EFCC and ICPC.

Asked what he stood to gain from petitioning the party, Afegbua said he wanted a situation where party leaders would be conscious of their roles as agents of a viral democratic culture of transparency, accountability, probity and openness in handling public finances, so that they did not think that the resources of the party belonged to them.

“I want a situation where persons liable of public financial misappropriation be prosecuted.

“Charity begins at home, so PDP cannot claim to be fighting the ruling APC party for incompetence and failure, including corruption, when PDP is committing the same offence within its own microscopic party. My petition will serve as a deterrent so that going forward, nobody will use consultant accounts to steal from the party’s resources,” he said.