by Kolapo Olapoju
President Goodluck Jonathan has denied a report that he and the Peoples Democratic Party spent N2trn to campaign for the recently concluded general election.
Similarly the President also refuted the claims that he set up a committee to conduct an audit of how the elections funds were shared by party members and state officials.
Jonathan reacted to the story through a statement released by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, who described the report as “mischievous, false and embarrassing.”
He stated that the country’s budget was a little above N4tn, and consequently, the story suggested that half of the federal budget was spent on elections.
Furthermore, Abati said it had become worrying for the Presidency, that since the March 28 and April 11 elections, certain individuals have been working hard to ridicule the Jonathan administration.
The statement read in part: “The front-page story of the Sunday Punch of April 19 alleging that the Presidency spent a whopping N2tn on the 2015 general elections, and that a Committee of Five has been set up by President Jonathan to conduct an audit of 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 N2tn on the campaigns. The innuendoes are wrong-headed; the motives behind the story are suspicious.”
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