Posted by By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
President Olusegun Obasanjo, Monday in Abuja, said if Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State contributed money towards his election in 1999, it must have been to his campaign office as he never personally received any money from the governor.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, Monday in Abuja, said if Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State contributed money towards his election in 1999, it must have been to his campaign office as he never personally received any money from the governor.
Even at that, he said any such contribution to his campaign office did not equate to a personal donation to him for the purpose of running his election.
A national paper had in its lead story quoted Governor Kalu as saying he contributed over $1 million to the campaign of the president for the 1999 presidential election and N500 million to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The presidential spokesperson, Mrs. Remi Oyo, who addressed the State House correspondents on the matter, stated emphatically: "President Olusegun Obasanjo did not receive any donations personally towards his election in 1999.
"You will recall that the Peoples Democratic Party, as in all other parties that took part in that contest, had campaign offices and so if Governor Kalu had contributed to that campaign office, that certainly is not equivalent to his allegation that he gave a certain sum of money to the president," she stated.
Oyo said if the Abia State governor gave such money to any individual, he would have been issued with a receipt and challenged the governor to make the identity of the person who he gave money known.
She called attention to what she said was President Obasanjo's message to all those who contributed money towards his election in 1999 to see their contributions as part of their service to their political party rather than an investment.
"I will also ask you ladies and gentlemen to recall that the president said emphatically in 1999 and I think he also said that before his re-election in 2003 that anyone who seeks to contribute towards his election should see it as part of service to the
political party, rather than an investment.
"It is not an investment if you decided to make a contribution to any worthy cause and that is essentially what our position in this matter will be "If you recall that when Governor Kalu wrote a letter making certain allegations against the president, the president promptly referred the case to EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu to investigate him clinically and make the result known. The president still stands in that matter", she further pointed out.