National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has admitted collecting N100 million from a sitting Governor in the party.
Ayu admitted this after Governor Nyesom Wike who spoke at a press conference today, alleged that he (Ayu) collected N100 million naira from a Governor for the renovation of PDP’s Democratic Institute and also went back to PDP NWC to take another N100 million naira for same job.
Wike also alleged that Ayu collected N1 billion from a Presidential aspirant in Lagos.
Fielding questions from newsmen after a meeting of the Board of Trustee (BoT) at the party headquarters in Abuja, Ayu said the issue of N1billion started when he came into office and needed money to hit the ground running.
He said they initially wanted to take a loan but didn’t go forward with it.
He said, “This is a meeting of the BoT which I am only a member, as allegations persist, it is an opportunity to clear the air. I decided not to respond not to encourage altercations in the party.
“However, I want to make it clear that at no time did I, as the National Chairman of the party, collect any N1bn from anybody.
“When we came in and the party was having funding difficulties, the presidential candidate suggested that we should take a loan from the bank and the owner of that bank is a member of the party, he has even left the party.
“The party never took any loan from anybody. Any money a“dvanced to the party was declared before the NWC and handed over to the National Treasurer.
“All our accounts are up to date and we promised to publish the accounts at the end of the year.“
Ayu admitted collecting N100m from a PDP Governor, but insisted that the money was judiciously used for the renovation of the Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI) which will be commissioned soon.
The PDP Chairman added that the money has not been exhausted and a letter had been dispatched to the said governor to come and see what it was used for.
