The national
leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared that it no longer
has money to complete its multi-billion naira new national secretariat. The new
secretariat is located at the Central Business District, Abuja. It was gathered
that the project was billed to cost N11.5bn when it was awarded some years ago.
Once completed,
the building will comprise 12 floors, including a parking space in two floors.
But the party said
the hope of completing the secretariat lies on its ability to secure the
services of a developer that would handle it, with an agreement on how it would
recoup its money.
The National
Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, stated this in an
exclusive interview with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday.
Metuh also
debunked the rumour making the rounds that members of the National Working
Committee of the party got a huge sum of money from the fund realised for its
Presidential campaign early in the year.
He said, “During
our sales of forms, we had planned to use substantial part of the money to
complete the secretariat.
“We also had a
fund-raising dinner where money was raised and we were told that about N21bn
was raised and that some of it would be given to us for the completion of the
secretariat but we didn’t see the money.”
It will be
recalled that a former Minister of Information and the Chairman of the party’s
Fund-raising Committee, Prof. Jerry Gana, had said the controversial N21.8bn
donated to the party by individuals, the party’s serving governors and private
consortium was not meant for the presidential campaign of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan
alone.
He was responding
to criticisms that trailed the donation, as majority of the then governors owed
workers’ salaries of their states.
Beside, the money
raised was beyond the amount stipulated in the Electoral Act for political
parties to seek votes for their presidential candidates.
Gana had said,
“This administration of the party under our able chairman resolved that we must
complete this (new secretariat) project so that we can move in there, and so,
part of the preparations for this year’s campaign is for us to raise funds and
I had the honour of leading a very distinguished team of Nigerians to prepare
for the fund raising.
“We raised about
N21bn on that day. The purpose of this press conference is to say that right
from the start, we were raising money for the PDP and the project of the party,
the documents and letters said so, the speeches confirmed it and during the day
of the fund raising, in my own speech and the speech of the Vice President who
happens to be an architect, there was a specific focus on this building–that
this is one project we want to complete.
“The Vice
President, being an architect, gave graphic details of where we were on this
project and how we desire to be. Therefore, the central aim of the fund-raising
is to empower the party to complete this building and other projects.”
Metuh also told
our newsmen that the money the national leadership of the party had kept aside
to use for the secretariat from the amount generated from the sales of forms
was spent.
He said that the
NWC was asked to divert the amount to the campaign of its governorship
candidates during the last elections.
He said that the
directive came after the party had lost the Presidential election to the All
Progressives Congress. Metuh said, “The one (money) we kept for the completion
of the secretariat, after we lost the presidential election. We were directed
to divert the funds to the campaign organisation (of our governorship
candidates).
“So, we channelled
it directly to our governorship candidates across the country in over 30 states
and other candidates in the House of Assemblies.
“That really
depleted the funds of the party and almost brought it to ground zero.
“As we speak, we
don’t have funds for the completion of the new secretariat. The acting chairman
of the NWC would take the issue to the national caucus to know how we can
engage the services of developers on some arrangements.”
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