THE FAILURE of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) national headquarters building project despite billions raised in donations has ignited calls for anti-corruption agencies to investigate the management of funds in Nigerian political parties.

A former National Chairman of the PDP Okwesilieze Nwodo, who recently revealed that N11.8 billon he left in the party’s coffers when he was removed from office disappeared without a trace, told The ICIR on December 8 that the EFCC should take a closer look at how political parties operated bank accounts.

Work has stopped on the construction of the new 12-storey PDP national headquarters, located along Muhammadu Buhari Way in the Central Business District, Abuja, since 2014, even though the sum of N21 billion realised from a special fundraising dinner organised by the party in December 2014 was meant for completion of the structure.

The N21 billion, realised from pledges and cash donations, was not accounted for even as the party had severally declared that it lacked funds to complete the building.

Speaking with The ICIR, Nwodo, who was PDP national chairman between 2010 and 2011, having earlier served as the party’s secretary-general, blamed the failure to complete the building on the prevailing culture of mismanagement of funds in political parties.

Nwodo was elected governor of Enugu State on the platform of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the Third Republic, from January 1992 to November 1993, when late dictator Ibrahim Abacha took power through a military coup.

The former PDP chairman also blamed lack of seriousness on the part of successive party executives for the failure to complete the building.

“The executives since 2015 have not been serious about completing the building. They have not done anything to raise money to complete the building and nobody can say anything about the money that was raised the last time. So it has remained uncompleted.”

However, he stressed that the money he left in the party’s coffers at the time he was removed as national chairman in 2011 would have completed the building.

Responding to further questions, Nwodo said, “Of course the money I left when I was leaving would have been enough to finish the building.”

He also observed that the N21 billion realised from the fundraising of December 2014 – which was meant to complete the building – has not been accounted for even as the project remained uncompleted.

“The chairman of the fundraising committee then was Namadi Sambo (Vice President to President Goodluck Jonathan) and there was a fundraising event and he raised sufficient money. Today, you ask where the money is and you hear one story or the other. They keep passing the buck and till today we don’t even know where the buck has stopped, yet there was a National Working Committee (NWC). They (the NWC) should tell us what happened to the money. But nobody is owing up to what happened to the money.”

Nwodo insisted that the EFCC should probe how funds were managed in the political parties.

“We can’t raise almost N13 billion from sale of nomination forms and it just disappears – there is nothing in the party to show what it was used for. I am saying parties should now involve the EFCC when there is mismanagement of party funds. The EFCC should be involved to investigate and prosecute. People should not think they can do these things and just get away and think it is normal.”

helinues:
Imagine a political party that can't build their party house house even after billions worth of donations but thinking they can build Nigeria.

Pdp in Nigeria, back to sender

jomoh:
Anyone clamoring for the return of PDP to Nigerian needs their head checked before being shot at close range.

Jostoman:
All this propaganda will not help APC in 2023. They want to start using their EFCC of APC to witch Hunt PDP.

helinues:
Imagine a political party that can't build their party house house even after billions worth of donations but thinking they can build Nigeria.

Pdp in Nigeria, back to sender

omenkaLives:
See how ipob idiots are quiet about this, because it involves pdp. Turn that title upside down and replace pdp with APC and see them swarm the thread like bees on honey.

Maxymilliano:
This is a huge slap on the face for my beloved PDP