‘It’s false and embarrassing,’ Presidency responds to 2trn campaign fund report

President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed the report, originally published on Sunday Punch of April 19, stating that the incumbent demanded a refund of over N2 trillion disbursed for the purpose of election campaigns.

Reacting to the report in a statement released by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati on Sunday, Jonathan also denied setting up a five-man committee to audit and retrieve the rest of the fund.

The story, which was also reported by Pulse, said the millions of naira were shared within government officials, Peoples Democratic Party, traditional rulers and others.

Abati however described the claims as “mischievous, false and embarrassing.”

The presidential spokesman said, suggesting that N2 trillion was spent on election when the country’s budget is a little above N4 trillion insinuates that the people behind it meant to instigate a national crisis.

The statement reads in part, “the front-page story of the Sunday Punch of April 19 alleging that the Presidency spent a whopping N2tn on the 2015 general elections, and that a Committee of Five has been set up by President Jonathan to conduct an audit of how the funds were disbursed by party members and state officials is mischievous, false and embarrassing.

“The President has not set up any committee as alleged in that story. It is also not true that the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party used state funds, or spent N2tn on the campaigns. The innuendoes are wrong-headed; the motives behind the story are suspicious.”

He insinuated that some people have been trying to diminish Jonathan’s presidency since the March 28 and April 11 general elections.