Jonathan Owed Me N180m, Anenih Tells EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been informed by the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, that immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, left him with “a balance of over N180 million as bad debt.” According to a letter to the EFCC, Anenih declared that he had spent over N440 million of his personal money on the re-election bid of Jonathan and cannot be expected to refund any money to the government. The PDP chieftain added that, “Some out-of-pocket disbursements made on the instructions of the former president to include N25 million to former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Muktari Shagari, and N35 million to a delegation of Local Government leaders from Katsina State. “On the instruction of the former president, the BoT embarked on a nationwide tour to reconcile aggrieved and feuding members.” Anenih further revealed that, “The money I spent on hiring small jets during the tour was not refunded to me. Most of the expenditures were on the instructions of Jonathan for special political assignments. “Only N260 million was refunded to me by the former president, leaving a balance of over N180 million as bad debts. “I only provided my account details to the former president on request for a refund of the money spent. “I was not in a position to ask the former president how he was going to source the fund or through which office the refund was going to be made. “I was not a direct beneficiary of the sum of N260 million that was a partial refund of the money I spent on the president’s instructions. “N63 million was disbursed to a northern group led by elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, for mobilisation and post-election peace advocacy in that part of the country. “N100 million was given to the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Olu Falae, to enable the party mobilise support and votes for the PDP presidential candidate since the SDP did not have a candidate for the election. “N100 million was disbursed to the Leader of ACCORD party, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, to also enable the party to support and mobilize voters for the PDP candidate. “Yakassai, Falae and Ladoja have all confirmed that they received the stated amount from Anenih. “The total of these three disbursements is already N3m more that the N260 million refund.”