2015 campaign fund: Probe fashola, Amaechi, says Fani-Kayode

                                  Femi Fani-Kayode

Fani-Kayode, in an article on Friday, alleged that former governors Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and his Rivers State counterpart, Rotimi Amaechi, funded President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign.

Fani-Kayode, who is a former Minister of Aviation, said this in an article titled, ‘The Money Transfers and the Truth about the Presidential Campaign Funds’, which he wrote in reaction to allegations levelled against him by the EFCC.

Fani-Kayode had confessed to receiving N840m as the director of publicity during the electioneering last year, but noted that he did not know that the funds emanated from the account of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He, however, described the investigations as a witch-hunt and urged the EFCC to beam its searchlight on Fashola and Amaechi who have since been appointed ministers in Buhari’s government.

Fani-Kayode said, “Instead of using the EFCC to try to rubbish me and my colleagues and smear our good names, those that are in power today should tell us where they got their campaign funds from and how much of it came from the governments of Lagos and Rivers states.

“The two people that headed those two state governments then are now both federal ministers today. One of them, who was the Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, was specifically indicted by a judicial commission of inquiry for using millions of dollars of state government funds to run the Buhari campaign, yet nothing happened and his reward was to be appointed as a minister.”

Fani-Kayode alleged that even in the March 19, 2015 rerun election in Rivers State, Amaechi transported N5bn to the state but the EFCC had done nothing about it.

He added, “Again what about the N5bn cash that was flown down to Port Harcourt in Rivers State from Abuja in chartered plane a couple of days before the rerun election that took place on March 19, 2016? Where did they get that amount of cash from and what was its purpose and source?

“What has the EFCC said or leaked about that? It appears that there is one law for those that are in power today and another for those that are not. Why persecute the innocent and leave the guilty? Was it a crime to fight and lose an election?”

The former minister said Buhari spent 10 times more than Jonathan during the last election. He said Buhari as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, hired the same campaign managers that headed United States President’s campaign.

Fani-Kayode alleged that the campaign managers were paid $10m.

He also claimed that the Jonathan campaign team was underfunded as it was not even given vehicles with which to move around during the electioneering.

He added, “I might add that we spent far less money than the APC and the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation because they had access to massive amounts of state government funds and they used those funds effectively. For every million naira we spent, they spent 10.

“They even contracted the services of a famous American media consultant (the same one that President Obama used in 2008) and paid him $10m for his counsel and advice. They had fleets of cars and buses whilst my directorate was not even given one vehicle to get our people around.

“The official jeep that was meant to have been given to us for our operations during the campaign was highjacked and it never arrived.

“We were forced to use our own personal vehicles and we were glad to do so. Yet the other side had everything that money could buy. They even chartered numerous private jets throughout the campaign to get around the country. Where did they get all their funding from? Why is the EFCC not leaking stories or talking about that?”

Faulting Fani-Kayode, the APC National Vice-Chairman said the ex-spokesman should provide proof, if he alleged that the two APC governors financed Buhari’s campaigns.

“It is not just by making allegations. They should bring proof. In our own case, we have brought proof, people are returning money. Is that not so? These are some of the things we must interrogate. In fact, there is no need for us to respond to them (PDP campaign). The fact speaks for itself.”

Source: THE Punch Newspaper