The Presidency has denied that it spent N2 trillion
on April 19 election according to a media report not
Vanguard.
The Presidency through Reuben Abati, Special
Adviser to the President Media and Publicity, made
this statement on Sunady.
The statement read thus
The front-page story of the Sunday Punch of April 19
alleging that the Presidency spent a whopping N2
trillion on the 2015 General elections, and that a
Committee of Five has been set up by President
Jonathan to conduct an audit on 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 N2 trillion during the
campaigns. The innuendoes are wrong-headed; the
motives behind the story are suspicious.
The story alleges, for example, that the Presidency
spent N2trillion on elections and embarked on a
money-sharing spree to party members, support
groups and state officials. The authors of the story
and their self-appointed megaphones further
insinuate that public funds were deployed in this
regard. Their allegation of a theft of public funds is
extremely malicious.
How much is the budget of the Federal Government
of Nigeria? The annual budget of the Federal
Government is a little over N4 trillion. The story is
practically suggesting that half of the federal
budget was spent on elections. This kind of reckless
insinuation is meant to incite the public and
instigate national crisis.
With FAAC having to do everything possible every
month to ensure disbursements and with the
Federal Government heavily committed to the war
against terror in the North East, where is the alleged
N2 trillion from the Federal purse? President
Jonathan and the People’s Democratic Party
conducted the 2015 elections in strict accordance
with the rule of law. The suggestion of any unlawful
conduct cannot be sustained under any
circumstances.
President Jonathan has done his best to protect and
strengthen democracy and promote peace. He
justly deserves all the accolades that he has
received from both Nigerians and the international
community for this. Certain persons and interest
groups may not be happy that his profile has further
risen and that his legacy is assured; but they do
their country gross disservice when they act so
unpatriotically.
Anyone who is engaged in imposing a crisis on the
country by any means is not being fair to Nigeria.
We can only appeal to the public to be wary of such
reckless tactics now on display, which form the
substance of an odd, malicious campaign after the
elections.
We are particularly worried that since the March 28
and April 11 elections, some persons have
continued to work very hard to diminish the
Jonathan Presidency. They need to be reminded that
the time for politics is over; it is now time to focus
on the in-coming government, with emphasis on
national development and moving the country
forward.


www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/jonathan-denies-spending-n2trn-on-april-elections-campaigns/

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Story

Its not exactly 2trillion, but its close to that amount abi?