Femi Fani-Kayode
Mr Femi Fani-Kayode will have to live without one of his accounts for now.
The account has been frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) as it steps up investigation into the alleged
N4billion campaign bazaar cash received from ex-President Goodluck
Jonathan in the build-up to the 2015 elections.
The funds were allegedly withdrawn from the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) and shared to 10 other directors, directorates, zonal directors
and state directors of the Presidential Campaign Organization of
Jonathan.
Fani-Kayode declared yesterday that he knew nothing about the
withdrawal of the cash from the CBN or funding of the campaign by the
former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki.
But he admitted that campaign funds were paid into the account of a
company linked with a former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman,
from where it was shared to him and others.
He dared the EFCC to “do their worse” in a statement in Abuja entitled “The Money Transfers and the Truth about the Presidential Campaign Funds.”
The beneficiaries may be arrested for questioning by the anti-graft agency.
Details of the largesse sharing are as follows: Fani-Kayode
(N840million); Goodluck Support Group (N320million); Achike Udenwa and
Viola Onwuliri (N350million); Nenadi Usman (N140million); and Okey
Ezenwa (N100million).
Giving his own side of the story,Fani-Kayode said he received the
funds from ex-President Jonathan and he is accountable only to the
former leader and not the EFCC.
He said the funds disbursed were not from public coffers and these were routed through a private company.
His words: “Our funds were given to us by the President who was
the leader of our party through the Director of Finance of the PCO and
we were not in a position to inquire into the sources of funding of the
party’s campaign. Indeed, it was not our responsibility to do so.
“Once I got these clarifications and confirmations, I agreed to
receive the funds into my bank account and use them for their stated
purpose.
“The transfers were made and I used the funds to carry out all our operations during the course of the presidential campaign.
“It was an aggressive and well-run campaign and we gave our
opponents a very hard time indeed. It was also very expensive and we
barely had the resources that we really needed, but we did an effective
job with the little we were given.
“The whole nation, including our friends and our enemies, can
bear witness to that and they saw the excellent quality of our work.
Hardly anyone can dispute this, yet some fail to appreciate the fact
that such a strong showing costs a lot of money. Media and publicity
campaigns cannot be run on goodwill alone. You need cash and plenty of
it.
“During the course of the election and after its conclusion, I
submitted detailed accounts of our expenses and evidence of our work to
the Director of Finance of the PCO for onward transmission to the
Director-General of the PCO and ultimately President Jonathan himself
about how the money was spent and they were satisfied.
“Given the fact that these were not public funds, the only
legal body that can inquire into our expenditure of campaign funds is
President Goodluck Jonathan who set up the PCO.”
Continuing, he said: “I cannot sit by silently as my name is
dragged through the mud in this way and I am convicted in the court of
public opinion. This has happened to me once before and it took me seven
years to clear my name. It will not happen to me again.
“Consequently I am constrained to take this opportunity to
state the facts of this matter, set the record straight and await my
traducers and accusers to make their next move. It is indeed time to
challenge those that are making these allegations and to kill the lie.
“The fact that my bank account was frozen on the orders of the
EFCC two weeks ago without any explanation is proof of the fact that I
am being targeted and that those that seek to have their wicked way with
me are about to pounce.
“Given this, it is important that all the relevant facts are
put before the world before I am subjected to the Dasuki treatment, put
away indefinitely and not given the opportunity to defend myself before
the public. Meanwhile, in their usual manner, after this is done, the
EFCC will then flood the media with all manner of lies about my
so-called atrocities which only exist in the figment of their
imagination.
“The allegation of fraud and the receipt of public funds from
the National Security Adviser’s Office and Central Bank into my bank
account are false.
“These allegations are baseless, wicked, shameful and
irresponsible. It is not true that any money was paid into my account by
or from the National Security Adviser’s Office, the Central Bank of
Nigeria or any other government agency or institution last year or at
any other time.”
He said the funds were wired into his account and others through a company associated with ex-Minister Nenadi Usman.
”As the Director of Media and Publicity of the Jonathan
Presidential Campaign Organization, I was asked to submit a budget for
my Directorate by Chief Tony Anenih, the Presidential Adviser to the
Presidential Campaign Organization and Mrs. Nenadi Usman, the Director
of Finance.
“My team and I prepared the budget and it was approved.
“Rather than collect cash, for security reasons and the
purposes of accountability, I was advised by the Director of Finance to
open a bank account for this purpose, which I did.
“The funds were paid into that account in instalments at the
beginning of last year by the Director of Finance and each deposit was
authorized and approved by the Presi dential Adviser to the PCO, Chief
Tony Anenih.
“The account that they used to transfer the money to me was a
private company account which was owned or under the control of the
Director of Finance.
“It was the same company account that was used to send money to
all the other Directors of the PCO and the Zonal Directors, State
Directors and all our PDP governorship and legislative candidates during
the various campaigns.
“ When I asked about the sources of the funds, I was told by
the Director of Finance that the funds were sourced from private
individuals and private companies who opted to support and fund
President Jonathan’s campaign. She told me that no money was paid into
her company from any government official, account or agency. This she
told me in the presence of witnesses and I believed her.
“ I was told that there was a fundraising event held by our
party (PDP) which took place in early January 2015 in which billions of
naira were raised specifically for the Presidential campaign. I believed
this to be true and I had no reason to doubt it.”
The ex-Minister said the slush funds were shared to 10 other
directors, directorates, zonal directors and state directors of the
Presidential Campaign Organization of Jonathan.”
He wondered why he has been the subject of “absurd and
outlandish headline stories in various newspapers which have accused me
of being a fraudster and which have claimed that funds were transferred
into my bank account by the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo
Dasuki, and by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
Such stories, he claimed, portrayed him as having used public funds for the campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan.
He branded such stories as petty, shameful, nauseating and “
also a reflection of the desperation of those that seek to pull me down
and destroy me simply because my opposition to this government has been
unrelenting.”
“In January 2015, I was appointed as the Director of Media and
Publicity for the Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organization by
President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Director-General of the Campaign Organization was Senator
Ahmadu Alli and the Deputy Director-Generals were Alhaji Ibrahim Turaki
SAN (North) and Governor Peter Obi (South).
Chief Tony Anenih, an elder statesman and one of the most
distinguished and revered leaders in our country, was the Presidential
Adviser to the campaign organization.
“There were at least 10 other directors and directorates apart
from me and mine including the Directorate of Mobilization which was led
by the respected Professor Jerry Gana and the Directorate of
Administration which was led by Alhaji Aliyu Modibbo. There were also
zonal and state directors of the Presidential Campaign Organization in
all the zones and states of the country.
“All these names that I have mentioned including all the other
directors whose names I have not mentioned are, as far as I am aware,
men and women of immense integrity and good character and they have
mostly been either ministers of the Federal Republic or state governors
at one time or the other in our history. It was an honour to serve
alongside such people and I have absolutely no regrets about doing so.
“Yet given the fact that I was not the only director in the
campaign organization and in view of the fact that all the directors and
zonal and state directors got their funds from the same source and
account as I did, one wonders why only I and three others should be
singled out for this reprehensible treatment and these false
allegations.
“ I chose to remain silent on the issue until now simply
because the allegations have not been officially made by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or anyone else, but the
newspapers keep citing their sources “inside the EFCC” as their basis
for these shameful allegations.
Mr. Josef Goebbels, Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s information
minister, when Germany was in the terrible grip of the Nazi party, said
that once a lie is repeated enough times, it becomes truth to those who
are continuously subjected to it. This is especially so if it goes
unchallenged.”
Fani-Kayode, who took swipes at the EFCC and The Nation in his statement, asked the anti-graft agency to “do the worst.”
He said: “Yet if this is an attempt to intimidate, silence or
distract me, they shall fail because I am not a coward and I do not fear
them or those that sent them to torment me.
“As long as Jesus is on the throne and our hands are clean, no
matter how long it takes, we shall prevail and ultimately they will pay a
heavy price for their malice, injustice and wickedness.
“These are facts and readers can be rest assured that I will
say nothing different from this if and when I am formally asked by
anyone or any agency.
“When the EFCC begins to leak their falsehood and salacious
allegations to their agents in the media, kindly take note of the fact
that, as usual, they will be telling tall tales and they will be lying.
“Now I challenge them to do their worse. I have no fear of them
or of those who have sent them to do this dirty job. May God judge them
all and may He reward them for their wickedness.
“The suggestion that the money was some kind of “cash bonanza”
or “bazaar” as has been reported by the leading pro-government newspaper
in the country today is childish and absurd.
“If that had been the case, I doubt that I would have been
foolish enough to open a bank account to receive government funds or
“bazaar funds” as this would have been easily traced.
“If I had anything to hide or if I was doing anything wrong, I
would have insisted on collecting cash for my operations which would
have been far easier to conceal.
“The fact that the EFCC gained access to my bank account and
leaked details of it to the media, including my inflows, is not only a
gross violation of my privacy, but it is also unlawful.”
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