The confirmation was contained in a one-page letter to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, by the National Secretary of Accord party, Hon. Nureni Adisa.
In the letter titled: “Release of One Hundred Million by Chief Tony Anenih” and dated 8th January, 2016, Hon. Adisa said: “Our attention has been drawn to a newspaper report that the sum of One Hundred Million Naira was released to the ACCORD leader, Senator Rashidi Ladoja by Chief Tony Anenih, the (former) Chairman BoT of the PDP.
“We confirm that the sum of One Hundred Million Naira was given to the Party through our leader after series of meetings between the leadership of ACCORD and Chief Tony Anenih in preparation for the 2015 general elections.
“The following issues were discussed at the meetings:
- The need to support the Presidential candidate of the PDP since ACCORD had no Presidential candidate.
- The need to ensure that peace was maintained to enhance peaceful movement during periods of campaign, elections and after the elections.
- The need for the PDP to support ACCORD campaign effort.
“Accordingly, the PDP (former) BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih released the sum of One Hundred Million Naira for these purposes through our leader, Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja.
“The money released was accordingly used for the purposes as stated above.”
It would be recalled that disbursements of varied sums of money to the accounts of some PDP leaders have been reportedly made by the Office of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki, who has been alleged to have diverted $2.1 billion meant for procurement of arms and ammunition that the armed forces would have used to fight Boko Haram insurgents.
It was reported that N260 million was traced to the account of the chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, who in a letter to the EFCC, explained that the money was a part refund of the money former President Goodluck Jonathan instructed him to release to some political groups for mobilization and post-election peace advocacy.
The former PDP BoT Chairman, who explained that he was not a direct beneficiary of the money, said in his letter to the EFCC that N100 million was given to the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Olu Falae, N100 million to the leader of Accord, Senator Rashidi Ladoja and N63 million to a group headed by elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai.
He said that the N260 million could not defray the total money, estimated at over N440 million that he eventually doled out from his pocket to other groups and individuals on the instructions of the former President.
Both Yakassai and Falae had already confirmed that they received N63 million and N100 million respectively from Anenih for the purposes specified. [myad]
