President Goodluck Jonathan has denied that he expended as much as N2trillion for campaigns ahead of the just-concluded general elections in which he was defeated by Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.
He also denied setting up a committee to conduct an audit of how the elections funds were disbursed by party members and state officials.
“The President has not set up any committee as alleged in that story. It is also not true that the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party used state funds, or spent N2tn on the campaigns. The innuendoes are wrong-headed; the motives behind the story are suspicious.”
Jonathan made the clarification in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr. Reuben Abati.
Abati was reacting to a story by Punch titled, “Jonathan demands N2tn election funds refund, audit.”
He described the report as “false and embarrassing.” The presidential spokesman said with the country’s budget being a little above N4tn, the story suggested that half of the budget was spent on elections.
This insinuation, he argued, was meant to incite the public.
Abati said the Presidency was worried that since the March 28 and April 11 elections, some persons had continued to work very hard to diminish the Jonathan Presidency.
