The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State has accused Jimi Agbaje, its governorship candidate in the just-concluded general election, of allegedly hijacking funds meant for the prosecution of the elections in the state.

The party said the governorship candidate’s action contributed significantly to its disastrous performance in the state.


Speaking in an exclusive interview with Daily Independent, Dr. Adegbola Dominic, the state chairman of the party, also accused Agbaje of flagrant disregard for party rules and its leadership, including the apex leader of the party, Chief Olabode George.

Reacting to the statement made by Agbaje last week that he was being attacked for failing to share money meant for the elections with party leaders, Dominic said aside fraudulently obtaining the money without the knowledge of the party leaders, Agbaje had been unable to account for how he disbursed the money.


According to him, the party’s presidential candidate in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, had sent one of his aides to bring the money to Lagos and hand it over to six people, including Agbaje, the state chairman (Dominic), Chief Olabode George, a representative of the senatorial candidates, and two House of Representatives candidates.

He added that Chief George, however, declined to be part of the process, asking the other five people to ensure the money was judiciously used for the purpose it was meant.

The state chairman said while the other representatives assembled at the agreed location to wait for the aide and Agbaje, Agbaje had, unknown to them, made another arrangement with the aide sent to deliver the money and received it without informing anybody, including the party chairman.

“I didn’t want to talk about the issue of money because I don’t like getting myself involved in issues like that, based on my record of integrity.

“But this was a presidential election. It has nothing to do with Jimi Agbaje. Only the presidential candidate and National Assembly candidates were involved in that election held on February 23.

“The funding came from the presidential candidate of the party himself for his own election. As the state chairman of the party, I was called by one of the aides of our presidential candidate who said I should meet him at a location in Lagos because he had some money to give us for the election.
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“He told me that he was instructed to handover the money to the governorship candidate, the state chairman, a representative of the senatorial candidates, and two representatives of our House of Reps candidates. He asked me to call the other people which I did, and we met at the hotel where he lodged.

“We had to break because on that night, President Buhari was going to make a broadcast to the nation and we feared that he might postpone the election. So, we deferred our meeting till after the broadcast.

“By the time we got back to our meeting place, after we discovered that the election will not be postponed, we didn’t meet Jimi Agbaje.

“I was there with the state publicity secretary and two other persons. The fellow who was to hand over the money to us had told us Jimi Agbaje will soon be around.

“So, we all kept waiting. After some hours, I had to call the fellow that we had been waiting for more than three hours without him or Agbaje in sight.

“He now told me that he was sorry, that he didn’t know we were still waiting and that he had handed over the money to Jimi Agbaje.

“I stated all these during the open meeting that Agbaje was talking about and he couldn’t refute my claim. We all can see guilt written on his face that day.

“The man who brought the money said he was instructed to handover the money to five of us, including our leader, Chief Bode George, who said that he didn’t want to have anything to do with the money, that we should go and sort it out and use it for the purpose it was meant. But now, he was telling me that he had handed over the money to Agbaje and that he had gone.

“When I called Agbaje, he told me he was in another hotel disbursing the money, without the state chairman’s knowledge and other leaders of the party.

“He just called in 24 House of Reps candidates, about 24 of them, and gave them what pleased him after he had kept a larger percentage of the money to himself.

“I am suspecting there was a deal between him and the fellow who brought the money, because if you are instructed to hand over the money to six people, why will you hand it over to just one person?

“This is money for election campaign and party leaders should be involved, but Jimi Agbaje personally shared the money the way he liked.”

Dominic, who said many of the party agents refused to defend the party’s votes during the elections, said while Agbaje was unable to account for the money, some of the agents who worked for the party were still looking for him today to pay them for job done.

“Till now, we don’t know how much he took for himself and we don’t know how much he gave out.

“He claimed somebody instructed him to disburse the money the way he liked but he refused to mention the name of that person. We know that it is not true.

“There must have been a deal between him and the fellow who brought the money. Now, I asked him to give us a breakdown of the amount he shared for record purposes, up till today, he cannot render an account.

“From feelers we got, he kept one-third of the money for himself and he distributed the remainder,” Dominic said.

Speaking further, he said Agbaje never invited him to any of his outings despite his position as the party chairman in the state.

He said: “We had a governorship candidate who just decided to do things his own way. He ignored the party completely.

“I, as the party chairman in the state, was never invited to even a single outing of the governorship candidate. I didn’t know what he was doing and his plans. He didn’t carry anybody along in the mainstream of the party.

“Agbaje seems to have his own league of friends who are going about with him. He didn’t hold a single rally, and the party too did not hold any rally because the governorship candidate believed that rallies were not important.

“He kept on sneaking into areas in the name of holding town hall meetings. I am from Alimosho Local Government Area. As the party chairman, I was informed that Jimi Agbaje, our governorship candidate, had crept into the local government (area) and was holding a town hall meeting.

“Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the meeting until some party members phoned me, asking me if I was aware.

“The town hall meeting was scantily attended because the mainstream of the party and members were not aware. That is what happened across the 20 local government areas in the state.”

However, in his reaction, Agbaje, who admitted that he received the funds, said he had no reason to render any account of how the funds were disbursed to the party because the party did not give him the money, in the first place.

He said he had rendered the account to the person who gave out the money and that the person was satisfied with how the funds were disbursed.

“The state chairman was not the person who gave me the money. It wasn’t the party who gave me the money.

“So, why should I render an account to Dominic or any other person? I have rendered an account to the person who gave me the money, and that is what matters. Everybody who collected the money signed for it and the record has been given to the owner of the money.

“I stated it in my press release last week that an account has been rendered fully to the person who gave me the money, and he is satisfied,” Agbaje said.

Agbaje, who restated his commitment to the PDP, also threatened to take legal actions against the party leaders if they continued to tarnish his image.

“If they continue maligning me, I may just take it up legally with them because I will not allow them to continue tarnishing my name,” he said.

https://www.akelicious.net/2019/03/how-agbaje-hijacked-money-sent-for.html

Ok

take heart

PDP= CORRUPTION

Egbon been trying to recover money lost since first election , this is his last opportunity , he just do it the PDP way .... LOOTING

I dunno how true this information is but I think Jimi Agbaje lacks ambitions.
During the Political Campaign, you hardly see his posters in the streets of Lagos, you hardly hear about him on radio, even internet sef he summit am for Sanwo to use it for his own advantage.

Lagosians needs someone hotter than Mr Jimi in the Opposition.

He's recovered all he's lost in his failed attempts. I'm happy for him.

Agbaje just soiled his integrity with this election. Shameful

The question should be how much Atiku release to Lagos chapter b4 pointing figures. We need to work with facts n figures in Nigeria for accountability.

How can he sabotage his own campaign? Does this mean he never wanted to be a governor?

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f

Agbaje is a mole planted long term in PDP by Tinubu to give APC nearly 2 decade-long victory. Every four years, he will come out to deceive you he is a contender; throw a few jabs at Tinubu and APC, pretend to like Igbos to alienate yoruba voters, and then after he loses, he disappears for another four years, rewarded with multi billion naira contract by Lagos State Government, only to come out next election to deceive you again; cycle continues. When he losses, he quickly accepts defeat even when the results are still 70% in...SMH. Mark my words...he will decamp to APC soon and Tinubu will choose him in 2023 if Sanwo-Olu mishaves like Ambode.

ATIKU...
Cash Cow to sure.

Jimi Agbaje was like "Angeli to npire jo ma
lo sun".....

true talk my brother

fredoooooo:
Egbon been trying to recover money lost since first election , this is his last opportunity , he just do it the PDP way .... LOOTING

Lol. Pdp still dey fight over campaign funds.

Obviously That is his pharmacy Biziness

i knw this jimi guy was not a sincere person all along....he sold the party's ticket to the APC........thats why he will never rule lagos state....never!

Jimi is not a fighter. He probably foresaw himself losing after Buhari was declared winner, knowing fully well that some people would rather kill than lose Lagos.

But he should have disbursed the money meant for field work to increase his chances of winning. He can't contest for governorship in Lagos anymore. Let PDP grab someone better fast.

He just sorted himself out..

The most sensible PDP man. He is working for Jagaban.

Why would agbaje continue to be PDP candidate for Lagos every time?

Wonders shall never ENDs

justice12000:
Agbaje is a mole planted long term in PDP by Tinubu to give APC decade-long victory. Every four years, he will come out to deceive you he is a contender; throw a few jabs at Tinubu and APC, and then after he loses, he disappears for another four years, only to come out next election. When he losses. he quickly accept defeat even when the resulted are 70% in...SMH. Mark my words...he will decamp to APC soon and Tinubu will choose him in 2023 if Sanwo-Olu mishaves like Ambode.

Tinubu Tinubu all the time..

When flat heads start supporting, your doom is near.


The 3rd time Jimi is getting this support implies that doom will stick with him forever


He made a great political mistake. Same stain Atiku now has on his body.

If you want to politically thrive, avoid the support of flat heads at all cost. Even if it's paying them to plead for their hatred.

Wise Jimi.

Him no wan waste money at all.

Him know as d tin dey always go!

Yoruba man with igbo money sense!!

It is well

Quick question, how much was sent by ATIKU pls? That's all am interested in.

So this what the pdp planned to do in Lagos had they won the election #kill and Divide#
pdp will not change
What a shame