The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday spoke about the controversial N12 billion which it realised from the general elections and which it has been accused of squandering.
It said that the money which it generated via sale of nomination and expression of interest forms from various elective office seekers across the federation was well spent.
The national chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, spoke at a briefing on Thursday in Abuja about the funds as well as the impending sack of workers. He said the actual amount was not N12 billion but a little over N11 billion.
He said, “10 percent of the money went to the state chapters, five percent went to the zonal chapters and another five percent went to local government chapters of the party. Another 15 percent was expended on assignments by various party functionaries and the rest was used to fund our campaigns. We raised money and we used the money for elections. We don’t need to go into details.”
The workers in the PDP secretariat who have been threatened with a sack notice have been accusing the PDP NWC of embezzlement.
Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, who led the PDP Senate caucus to the briefing, explained why the party must reduce the number of the secretariat staff.
Akpabio said, “We can no longer run to the Villa for cash so we don’t have the wherewithal to maintain that large number of secretariat staff. The workers should understand that they are in a master-servant relationship in which you cannot force an unwilling master to keep a recalcitrant servant. We are definitely going to downsize.”
Akpabio and Secondus complained about what they described as “harassment and intimidation” of the party’s ex governors and former ministers that served under the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
According to them, the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have singled out ex PDP public office holders for investigation.
