TheCable

Olisah Metuh, national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says no member of the party’s National Working Working (NWC) embezzled funds meant for its campaign for the 2015 general election. 

Metuh, who also denied reports of crisis in the party, said that the NWC rather generated billions of naira from the sale of forms to fund PDP candidates for governorship and state assembly elections in all the states of the federation.

Last week, the party had admitted there was crisis in its fold when it said that some fifth columnists were concocting allegations and sponsoring amorphous groups against the NWC.

It also said that some of its members, including the “ambitious” aides and associates of President Goodluck Jonathan were “using their perceived closeness to the president to further their heinous agenda of injecting crisis in the party with a view to hijacking the structure for their selfish interests”.

Despite all it had said regarding the imbroglio within its ranks, Metuh told a press conference in Abuja on Monday that that there was no rancour in the party.

“As you are aware, part of our re-engineering process is the setting up of the PDP post election assessment committee, which is to be inaugurated tomorrow to evaluate and assess our performance in the general election and make recommendations for the way forward,” he said.

“On this note we wish to state clearly that there is no crisis in the national leadership of the PDP. The National Working Committee under the chairmanship of Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu is duly elected and is fully in control of the administration of the party until the expiration of its tenure in March 2016 in line with the provisions of the constitution of our great party.

“We therefore urge all our members across the country to close ranks and work together with their leaders at all levels and make themselves partners in progress in the all important on-going rebuilding process aimed at restoring the supremacy of the party and its glory as the preeminent party in Nigeria. What we need now is to eschew all personal and private agenda and join forces to reinvent our party for the task ahead.”

On the allegation that the NWC of the party squandered the funds meant of President Jonathan’s electioneering, he said: “For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that this national leadership has remained very transparent in all its dealing since coming into office. No NWC member has been involved in any way in any sleaze or embezzlement of party funds. Also, no member of the NWC has ever been accused of embezzlement of funds in any ministry, department or agencies of government at any level whatsoever.

“We state clearly that we have not been given any money, rather this NWC generated billions of naira from the sale of forms from where we funded our candidates for governorship and state assembly elections in all the states of the federation in addition to funds released to key leaders, including NWC and BoT members, to prosecute the campaigns in their various areas. The NWC is willing and ready to make this account public in line with the freedom of information law.

“We hereby wish to alert the general public and all our members that the main agenda of these elements is not only to hijack the national leadership but also to create an impression of division and crisis and pave the way to lure some of our elected members to decamp to other parties apparently in view of the recent ruling of the Supreme Court which allows defection in the event of leadership crisis at their party’s national level.

“However, we are happy to announce that the leader of our party, President Jonathan, the PDP governors and other key stakeholders of our party, including governors and legislators-elect, are deeply concerned about this development and have intervened to ensure the desired stability in our party.

“We thank the president for his role in calling all stakeholders to order in the general interest of the party. In the same vein, we thank our governors and elders of the party for their mediation as well as in joining forces with the NWC in the efforts to re-engineer and rebuild our great party and re-position to it to regain power in 2019.”