Ondo APC, PDP Trade Accusations Over Jonathan’s N15bn For Mimiko’s Re-Election

Olusegun MimikoThe Ondo State chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have traded accusations over an allegation that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the release of N15 billion accruable to the state from excess crude oil, to fund Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s re-election in 2012.

According to the Ondo APC, the money, which “purely belonged to the government”, was allegedly received by Mr. Mimiko through the bank accounts of his cronies, from the Ministry of Finance via the Central Bank of Nigeria.

But the PDP accused the opposition party in the state of “prosecuting a disinformation agenda that is calculated to cause disaffection and commotion”.

The APC insisted that Mimiko’s alleged action was wicked, unlawful and unacceptable to the people.

A statement by the party’s spokesman, Omo’ba Abayomi Adesanya, yesterday in Akure, the state capital, said: “We have it on good authority that Mimiko collected N15 billion from the Federation Account on November 15, 2012, which he personally signed for”.

It said the action was against due process and deliberately orchestrated to siphon public funds, which has gone into private pockets with no records of it in the state.

The party, therefore, gave the governor seven days ultimatum to address the people on the alleged N15 billion and refund the money to the state treasury.

The statement warned that failure to meet the deadline, will force the opposition party to “write petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to help the suffering people of Ondo State to recover the loots”.

But the PDP’s Publicity Secretary, Ayo Fadaka, described the APC’s allegations as mostly outlandish and pedestrian, even to the extent of being difficult for people to react to because of its ludicrous nature.

Fadaka said: “To set the records straight, however, there is no iota of truth in the allegation. Dr. Jonathan did not give out any money to pursue the re-election of Governor Mimiko as alleged. It is a blatant lie from the pool of APC’s fallacies”.