9th November, 2011
Former Works Minister and stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe says the leadership of the party in the state will invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to probe Chief Bode George if he fails to account for the N50 million campaign funds disbursed for the just concluded local government elections.
Ogunlewe, who was reacting to the allegation by Bode George that he is engaging in anti-party activities and should be expelled from PDP, told P.M.NEWS that it was because he asked the former board Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, to account for the N50 million that he began the campaign of calumny in the media.
According to Ogunlewe, “N50 million was sent from Abuja to the Lagos State chapter of PDP to be disbursed to the council chairmanship and councillorship candidates before the October 22 election but Bode George cornered the money and only gave peanuts to a few of his cronies.
“He kept the money without the knowledge of the state exco, party chairmen in all the local government councils and even the candidates the money was meant for.
“That undermined the party’s performance during the election as the candidates did not have money to prosecute their campaign.
“How can we win an election when there was no money to pay for campaign materials and even pay our agents? Most chairmanship candidates paid agents from their pockets. The same thing happened during the April general elections when George turned his home into the party secretariat where he shared money to only his cronies. This must stop.
“He must account for that money if not the state exco will invite the EFCC and the State Security Service to probe him.â€
Ogunlewe said the situation was so embarrassing that after the election, youths hired as party agents in Kosofe, held a PDP woman leader in the area, Princess Adesanya, hostage in her house because there was no money to pay them.
She was not allowed to leave her home because she could not pay them after the election, he added, saying he had to provide money to pay the agents.
He said with the approach of the party’s state exco election on 7 January, 2012, members of the party should insist on electing their own leaders and kick against imposition.
The Surulere local government chairmanship candidate of the party, Bobby Jeje, also confirmed to P.M.NEWS that only N600,000 was sent to the council and by the time the money was shared to only councillorship candidates, each of them got only N25,000.
He said he didn’t get a dime because the money was too meagre.
It was gathered that George handpicked only five chairmanship candidates, out of the 57 that contested, and gave them peanuts, while the rest funded their own campaigns and paid the agents.
Reacting to Ogunlewe’s allegation against him, George said he doesn’t react to idiocy or what a demented person has said, adding that he had better things to do.
His words: “I don’t react to idiocy. I don’t react to what a demented person would say because I have a lot of better things to do. Ogunlewe is inconsequential as far as I am concerned. He’s inconsequential as far as this party is concerned.
“So, he can go to the pages of newspapers and say whatever he has to say, I don’t care and I know he’s working for ACN. He’s a traitor and a traitor he would remain. Therefore, whatever he said is inconsequential to me.
“Where was he when we were founding this party? He was nowhere to be found. But now, he wants to reap were he did not sow. I’m not the manager of this party. He should go to them because the party knows better and they know the truth.
“Please quote me very well that I said I don’t react to idiocy or a demented person, I have better things to do. I’m referring him to the leadership of the party. The party knows better and the truth.â€
Some PDP leaders who pleaded anonymity, told P.M.NEWS that as an ex-convict, George was expected to keep a low profile after his jail term rather than throw his weight around as if he still has any moral standing in the society.
They said they won’t allow him to hijack the party machinery in the state after he had ruined the party through his vice-grip and divide-and-rule tactics.
PDP had for long been rocked by bitter internal feud to the extent that the party’s stalwarts in the state do not see eye to eye.
The feud gets worse during elections when allegations about a few leaders hijacking campaign funds fly all over the place. This has made the party to play second fiddle to Action Congress of Nigeria in the state since 1999.
—Ada Owojela & Jamiu Yisa