Jonathan, Profligacy And N21bn Illegal Campaign Donations Comrade Timi Frank — Dec 23, 2014 Again President Goodluck Jonathan has kick-started his 2015 presidential campaign by violating the laws of the land. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has told Nigerians to tighten their belts after imposing austerity measures. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has devalued the Naira due to falling oil prices. This has further weakened the purchasing power of already impoverished Nigerians. But for Jonathan, it is ‘austerity my foot, Nigeria is not broke.’ Reason why he last Saturday received a whooping N21.27 billion in illegal donations to finance his presidential campaign. The exercise shows that the present administration is not in a hurry to refrain from its profligate, corrupt and licentious ways. The huge donations witnessed at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Fund Raising Dinner held at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, grossly violates the Constitution, the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and all that bothers on good conscience and morality expected from the highest political office in the land. It also represents a direct affront on the people who are today being ruled by guile and deception. The President certainly did not “give a damn” to Section 91(9) of the Electoral Act which expressly states that: “No individual or other entity shall donate more than one million Naira to any candidate” while receiving the donations. Some of the donors and donations as announced during the dinner include PDP Governors Forum – N1.05billion, Prof. Jerry Gana and his friends in the power sector – N5billion, Oil and Gas sector – N5billion, Mr Tunde Ayeni – N2billion, Chairman of SIFAX group – N100million, Transport and Aviation sector – N1billion, Agriculture – N500million, Power sector – N500million, Board of the Shelter Development Limited – N250million, Construction sector – N310million, Road Construction players – N250million, National Automative Association – N450million, Rivers State PDP Chapter – N50million and Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) – N15million. It is illegal, satanic, ungodly and unacceptable for the President and the PDP to continue to trample on all rules and regulations guiding donations and expected spending by candidates and political parties to prosecute elections in this country. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the anti-graft agencies have continued to maintain conspiratorial silence. But they must act! The donation smacks of impunity and criminality. The INEC and the anti-graft agencies cannot afford to bury their heads in the sand. The Electoral Act has been brutishly violated and the law must be seen to take its course. According to Section 91 of the Electoral Act, the maximum expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election is N1billion and N200million for governorship. The Electoral Act also placed a campaign ceiling of N40million and N20million respectively for senatorial and House of representative candidates. For election expenses into the State Assemblies and chairmanship for Local Governments and Area Councils, it is N10million. Sanctions for candidates who knowingly flout these campaign spending limits are as follows: For presidential – N1million or 12 months imprisonment or both. Governorship – N800,000 or nine months or both. N600,000 or imprisonment for six months is for senatorial candidates and N500,000 or five months imprisonment for House of Representatives candidates. How come the power sector that recently got a financial bailout and its gas debts to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) settled by the CBN, could afford to cough out the sum of N5.5billion? If the power sector had the fund, why then did it wait for its legacy debt of about N36.9 billion owed to gas suppliers to be paid by the CBN? Why did the CBN had to intervene to the tune of $213 billion to help stabilize operations in the power sector? We must be reminded that the CBN is the banker to the Federal Government and the money in its possession belongs to taxpayers. Nigerians must not forget in a hurry that the present administration is often long on promises and short in fulfilling them. For instance, Jonathan in 2011 said, “if voted into power within the next four years, the issue of power will become a thing of the past. Four years is enough for anyone in power to make significant improvement and if I can’t improve on power within this period it then means I cannot do anything even if I am there for another four years.” Sadly, it is true his administration cannot do anything about the suffocating power situation in the country. Besides, Section 221 of the 1999 Constitution prohibits any association from contributing to the election expenses of any candidate or aspirant. However, PDP Governors Forum donated N1.05billion. Some Federal Ministries also made fatuous donations. These came against the backdrop that civil servants at both Federal and State levels are being owed salaries for upwards of three months for which they are currently gearing up for an industrial action. Already, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) have threatened to call its members out on a nationwide strike if the Federal Government failed to pay their October and November salary arrears. Notwithstanding the bad governance currently replete at the federal level, Nigerians must not despair because a credible party to clear the mess of the present administration and return our country to the path of probity, accountability, transparency and frugal management of national resources is set to take over the saddle of leadership in the forthcoming elections. Therefore, Nigerians must seize this golden opportunity to chase out treasury looters and financial scammers by installing an All Progressives Congress (APC) national government in 2015. The signs that the APC is capable of revamping our economy, create jobs, defeat insurgency, boost healthcare and education and properly manage national resources are very clear and unmistakable. One is that APC governors have since demonstrated that governance is about the people and not those in position of authority as is the case at the federal level presently. Their sterling performances are there for all to see. Above all, the APC has continued to prove critics wrong on all fronts. For instance, not many people believed that the leaders of the party could be magnanimous and selfless enough to bury their personal aspirations and ego by allowing for an unbiased choice of its presidential candidate to lead the change. The APC’s presidential primaries have come and gone and every other thing is now history. The party has shown that it is an epitome of light and all that is good, therefore, it behooves on Nigerians to come out from darkness and follow that light in 2015. The choice of General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) as the APC presidential candidate and Professor Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate shows that the party is extremely sensitive to the aspiration of Nigerians and the geopolitical, social, religious and ethnic configuration of our country. GMB and Osinbajo are both tested trusted and proven proven personalities. Their antecedents are well known. They were not imposed. They emerged from a very transparent and flaw-free party primaries. I dare say that the choice of Buhari has been hailed by all, while that of Osinbajo confounded the naysayers who hitherto were up in arms to taint the party as an ‘Islamic party’ should it be a Muslim-Muslim ticket. The leaders of APC have demonstrated uncommon wisdom in choosing its flag bearers. All other aspirants who partook in the primaries – Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah – are all noble men. The National Chairman, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun did a great job by ensuring that the race was not restricted to a single aspirant but the “the more the merrier.” The party lived up to its words and ideals. In their campaign tour across the country to solicit the support of the party delegates, the aspirants never dwelt on the personal and mundane, but on issues. They all espoused their vision and mission and called on the delegates to endorse them. Notwithstanding that a President that has been in the saddle for about six years could not tolerate others aspirants vying for the presidential ticket of his party against him, the APC presidential slot was come one, come all.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 20:26:25 +0000