Gentlemen of the press, we as a party are aware that some of your colleagues were invited to an unauthorized press briefing yesterday by seven (7) unrepentant saboteurs of our party, in which they attempted to make several spurious and unfounded allegations against the party and our Dear National Secetary and Governorship Candidate, Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu. The primary essence of this briefing is to categorically state that these allegations are mere figments of their imagination, and that, these characters are merely attempting to blackmail the party into stopping the ongoing investigation of financial misappropriation and election sabotage levelled against them.
We want to state categorically that no measure of blackmail or defection will stop the ongoing investigation, and if they are found culpable, surely they will be handed over to the security agencies for prosecution.
It may interest you to know that already, preliminary investigations show that, some agents of our party that were recruited and forwarded to INEC by the Deputy Chairman, Sir Martin Ejiogu, and Nze Ray Emeana, the state Secretary, for the last Presidential and National Assembly elections in some areas were Apc members. This seriously hampered the availability of much needed result sheets that some of our candidates at the tribunal need to recover their stolen mandates. Today, the same men have joined Apc.
Also, it is regrettable to state that, as the Financial Secretary of the party in the state, I have no records of the financial dealings of the party. All proceeds from the sale of nomination forms, sale of party cards, annual dues, levies and donations running into N600m in the last three years are only known to the state secetary, Deputy Chairman and treasurer,who are among these decampees. The party in the state received over N1.4billion Naira from donations and candidates contributions for the last Presidential and National Assembly elections; these monies were appropriated by Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, Nze Ray Emeana and Martin Ejiogu without the input or knowledge of the committee on finance of the presidential campaign council which I was the secetary. The manner of the distribution and utilization of these funds are a subject of investigation by the party and we will stop at nothing to unravel how a major portion of these funds developed wings.
These renegades also claimed that the National Secetary wasn’t funding the party as the candidate and leader of the party in the state, and we now ask: when has it become the duty of the leader of the party to solely fund the party. We are all aware that in the recent past, when Rt. Hon. Ihedioha, was the leader of our party in the state, he never funded the party. Rather, the leadership of the party approached and encouraged leaders of the party to assist in funding the party. To further debunk this allegation, here are bank receipts and some due acknowledgements of monies sent by Senator Anyanwu in the last one year for payment of Staff salaries, payment of office rent, donations and sponsorship of party programmes and activities. If added to cash donations and contributions to the party, are in excess of N100m.
As you can see, most of these funds passed through the account of the defecting State Secretary of the Party, who in one breath receives huge sums for the Party from Senator Anyanwu and turns around to lie against the senator.
The issue of them not being able to explain how Senator Anyanwu currently occupies the position of National Secetary and Candidate of our Party in the State, please make your findings. There is neither any provision in our Party Constitution, Electoral Guidelines or Electoral Law that precludes Distinguished Senator Anyanwu from holding both positions. Moreover, current precedents show that the current deputy National Publicity Secetary of our party Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulahi was the deputy Governorship Candidate of our party in kebbi State in the last Gubernatorial election and still sits on the National Working Committee till date; also the current governor of Zamfara State was the State Chairman of PDP in Zamfara State during the last election and only relinguished his position in the party after being sworn in as governor of Zamfara State in line with the extant laws.
How shocking that the same group that has been accusing the candidate of the party of lacking capacity and seriousness to run the election, have suddenly developed chronic amnesia that senator Anyanwu has not lost any election he contested since 1999 till date. He was elected Local Government Council Chairman for two terms, elected state House of Assembly member two terms, and set a record as the first Imo politician to be elected straight from the state Assembly to the Senate. We categorically state that our candidate is ready and able to rescue Imo from the clutches of inept governance and to make Imo State Safe Again.
We also want to categorically state that these individuals that left have not affected the popularity or electoral value of our party in any way; the party is ever strong and increasing numerically and in stature with the recent entrance of a deluge of supporters thronging into our party in Imo daily.
We hereby want to reassure our teeming supporters and Imolites that our party and candidate are well on course to take Imo back on the path to economic and social prosperity by making Imo Safe Again.
The Peoples Democratic Party, Imo State chapter is safer without these wolves in sheep clothing. We further assure you that the report of the investigations into the misappropriated #12m given to the party by our Gubernatorial Candidate and his deputy Rt. Hon. Jones Onyeriri at the stakeholders meeting in may through the State secetary, and other cases of financial impropriety and anti party activities levelled against these decampees will be made public soon and the law will take it’s course.
Thank you gentlemen of the press for coming.
Long Live the Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria
Long Live The Federal Republic of Nigeria
Long Live the Good People of Imo State
Signed
Barr. Bedewell Ejimadu
Financial Secretary
Imo State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP
NIGERIA NEWSPOINT
