A former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has admitted that his office was funded monthly by the embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
He, however, stated that the funds received by his office were not part of the $2.1 billion arms fund allegedly misappropriated by Mr. Dasuki, who is currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Okupe, who served under Jonathan from 2012 to 2015 and has been mentioned as one of the beneficiaries of the largesse now known as ‘Dasukigate’, said this on his official Twitter handle.
Most of the funds mentioned in ‘Dasukigate’ are believed to have been used as slush funds for the 2015 general elections.
“I was not paid arms deal money. NSA paid for running of my office monthly from August 2012. Dasuki-gate was in 2014”, the former presidential aide tweeted in the early hours of Sunday.
He added that “President is empowered by the Constitution to run his office as he deems fit. NSA is a staff of the president and subject to his orders”.
In trying to explain his tweet as well as another where he said, “I Did not take part in campaign”, Mr. Okupe insisted that at no point in time was he or his office involved in any aspect of the 2015 presidential campaign.
“However, I kept up with my duties as a principal aide of the president and continued media engagement and interface where necessary. I received no special funds for any program or project connected with electioneering”.
