PDP: Tagging N122m Paid To NWC Members As Bribe Is Strange – Ologbondiyan

The immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Kola Ologbondiyan, has described as ‘totally strange’ the claim by some PDP National Working Committee members that the over N122 million paid into their accounts by the party came to them as a surprise.

This website reported that the crisis bedeviling the PDP deepened on Thursday after four members of the PDP NWC wrote individually to the party’s embattled National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, informing him that they had refunded the monies.

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Their letters circulated on social media on Thursday showed that National Vice Chairman (South-West), Olasoji Adagunodo; National Vice Chairman (South), Dan Orbih; and National Women Leader, Stella Affah-Attoe were paid N28,800,000 each while the Deputy National Chairman (South), Taofeek Arapaja, was paid N36,000,000 supposedly as ‘house rent’ allowance.

But the party chieftains said the purpose for the payments were unknown to them, even as they faulted reports accusing them of receiving bribes to help Ayu retain his position as national chairman.

Ayu has been facing calls for his resignation by some southern PDP governors and stakeholders over allegations of grand corruption.

A bloc of the party led by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is also demanding Ayu’s resignation on the grounds that the party cannot have its presidential candidate and national chairman from the same region (North).

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Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party

But Ologbodiyan, during an Arise TV interview monitored by THE WHISTLER on Friday, faulted the PDP NWC members’ claim that they were not informed before the monies were transformed into their accounts.

He added that it was wrong to label monies “legitimately earned” by the party chieftains as bribes.

According to Ologbodiyan, it has been the practice in the PDP for certain allowances to be paid to members of the NWC because they are not salaried.

He said, “The founders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) created what is known as the establishment profile of the party. This establishment rule contains the structure of the party and what members can do and cannot do. It is just a rule guiding the party structure outside the constitution of the party.

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“It is also good to understand that party leaders who are officers of the party have no salaries, they never paid any form of salary as monthly earnings.

“Their entitlements are in allowances and imprest like housing allowance. I heard someone talking about sitting allowance. I don’t know about sitting allowances but I know about transportation allowances, housing allowances and there’s also imprest.

“Based on my own experience, I’m not in this working committee so I don’t know the practice of this working committee, but what I know is that when you assume office, you must submit account number to the party directorate, particularly the Finance Directorate of the party so that whenever your entitlements are ready, they would be paid into your account.

“It is totally strange that any officer of the party will come up and say money was paid into my account (and) I don’t know how the money was paid or I don’t know the purpose was meant for.

“There is no way this issue we are discussing now would not be debated, going by experience, by the National Working Committee with minutes taken and it would be agreeable by all members of the working committee on what each member is going to get.

“So, it is totally strange that people are talking about money legitimately earned as if it was a bribe. I would be surprised if any member of the working committee comes up to say that the issue was not discussed at the National Working Committee meeting and that there was no agreement in the NWC, because that has been the practice, that was what we met and that was what we left.”

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