Posted by Dotun Oladipo and Semiu Okanlawon on
The Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Kalu, has alleged that he contributed over $1million to the campaign of President Olusegun Obasanjo for the 1999 election.
The Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Kalu, has alleged that he contributed over $1million to the campaign of President Olusegun Obasanjo for the 1999 election.
The governor also said that he gave N500million to the Peoples Democratic Party for the same elections.
But the Presidency on Sunday denied that Obasanjo collected money from the governor.
Kalu, in a personally signed statement sent through e-mail to our correspondent on Friday, said that he was not poor before he became governor and would therefore not want to be classified as a thief.
He was reacting to a statement credited to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that some governors had stashed away over $17billion abroad.
Kalu said, 'I observe with dismay, the deliberate and orchestrated campaign to disparage and smear the integrity of state governors through half-truths, outright falsehood, innuendoes, and misrepresentation of facts.
'This campaign has assumed a frightening dimension in the past four months, and particularly after my letter to the President on the state of the nation. The recent allegation, which is gaining popularity gradually, is that governors have collectively and illegitimately stashed away over $17billion dollars. Ordinarily, I would have chosen to keep quiet, but for the weightiness of the allegation and its tendency to mislead the public."
Kalu said he was worried that other governors had opted to keep quiet over the allegations despite overwhelming evidence that it was a move to damage their reputation.
He said, 'The way governors are being humiliated and castigated creates the erroneous impression that governors were paupers before they were elected to office.
'I wish to make it clear that some of us, especially me, were well-to-do and owned legitimate businesses before assuming office as governors. It is on record that I single-handedly guaranteed half a billion naira for the Peoples Democratic Party before the 1999 general elections. In addition, I donated over one million dollars to President Olusegun Obasanjo's presidential campaign in 1999. All these are aside from the generous gestures I extended to the party and its members in the area of playing host to meetings and chartering aircraft for campaign runs. In fact, Dana Airlines can corroborate this claim."
Kalu said there were some ministers who were not wealthy before 1999 but now owned houses abroad, with their children attending the best schools outside the country, wondering why the same ministers had now joined forces to castigate the governors.
He added, 'It was common knowledge that before the 1999 elections, I owned houses in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria; while the company I founded had offices and engaged in genuine businesses in the same countries as well as in Togo, Ghana, Benin Republic and South Africa. Let me ask: Does it mean that all the money I spent in sponsoring the PDP and some of its members and securing bank guarantees for it was stolen?
'All that I acquired before I assumed office as governor in 1999 was duly and publicly declared in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is therefore nauseating to read in the papers that governors are accused of owning houses and accounts abroad. How can all of us suddenly and collectively become thieves, when it was clear that some of us were wealthy and had connections in high places outside of this country before 1999?
'The present smear campaign is designed by some persons to intimidate the governors and incite the people against us. But I am pained that my colleagues are not speaking out in defence of this deliberate smear campaign. I wonder why no other governor, except me, could not come out boldly to condemn the blighted campaign to destroy our good name?
'If every other governor chooses to be emasculated and intimidated into muteness, Orji Kalu will not. I have built my reputation over the years through diligence, honesty and hard work, and will not therefore fold my hands and watch anybody destroy it. I am ready to submit myself to any unbiased investigation, anywhere in the world and at any time."
Kalu challenged governors to speak up in the face of the 'wicked designs of our detractors."
'When the gale comes, it may not spare anyone. I wish to urge my colleagues who have any legitimate businesses to do abroad to feel free, because I have implicit confidence in the Western countries that they would not lend themselves to be used for witch-hunt."
In a response on Sunday, the Special Assistant to the President on Public Communications, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said he was not aware of what transpired in 1999, but was sure that Obasanjo did not collect a dime from Kalu.
Fani-Kayode said, 'I can tell you that the President never collected any money from him. I am not denying the possibility that he gave money to the PDP to help the party, but I can say that the President did not collect money from him. And if he had given money at all, it has nothing to do with what is going on at the moment. I also want to add that what is going on now is not witch-hunt. So, if Kalu has nothing to hide, he has nothing to worry about."
The PUNCH, Monday, October 17, 2005