Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bode George, says he only received $30,000 (N5,981,581) from the former minister of state for finance, Bashir Yuguda, contrary to the latter’s testimony that the former was paid N100 million.
Yuguda had in the Statement of Witness/Accused Person filed in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, revealed that he paid N100 million each to several PDP chieftains.
George, who is currently in the United Kingdom, said on Sunday that $30,000 (N5,981,581) cash was given to him in his capacity as the head of the South-West committee.
In his defence, he said the committee was not a mobilisation committee but an elders’ consultative committee set up to reconcile aggrieved party members ahead of the elections.
“Yuguda gave me $30,000 to share among ourselves. Each person received $1,500 including myself. We held a series of meetings in Lagos and the money was used to settle hotel bills, transport and sittings. So, I don’t know what Yuguda is talking about. If the money that was given to us was stolen, how was I supposed to know?”
In a statement signed by his spokesperson, Uthman Shodipo, the PDP chieftain said there’s no iota of truth in the allegations against him.
“My attention has been drawn to another mischievous and deliberately fraudulent claim that I collected N100 million from Bashir Yuguda, the former Minister of State for Finance. This is another blatant falsehood, stripped of any iota of truth. This is yet again a depraved continuation of lynch mob journalism orchestrated by an online newspaper.”
“The salient fact is that very early this year, long before the election period, the party set up Contact and Mobilization Commttee for each zone to reconcile various factions and ensure a firm unity of purpose within the zones before the election. I was elected as the Chairman for the South-West zone.
“The committee which was made up of 18 senior members of the party with distinguished history of honour and exemplary leadership, met at least 10 times in my office in Lagos. These people travelled all the way from every corner of the South-West, with three members representing each state.
All of them are very much alive to testify to my assertions. Sometime in the middle of these deliberations, Yuguda came to me and said the party was reimbursing the 18 elders of the committee for their transportation, accommodation and feeding allowance for the work that was done.
“The committee later submitted the report of its deliberations to the party and then wound up. For all these efforts Yuguda gave the committee only $30,000. That was less than N6 million at that time. Yuguda can never claim that he gave the Committee N100 million. That is the figment of the imagination of rascally scribblers purporting to be journalists. Again, facts are sacred.”
Ynaija.
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