- You Spent N20bn State Funds for Campaign– PDP
- Your Claim Fallacious, Misleading — APC
By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Ondo State governorship election may have come and gone but its outcome has continued to generate claims and refutation of claims between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
This is as the opposition PDP has alleged that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa took a whooping N20bn from the state Treasury to fund his campaign prior to the election which took place on Saturday.
The Director General of the PDP Campaign Council, Dr Eddy Olafeso, made this allegation on Wednesday stressing that those who voted for governor Aiyedatiwa were induced with N10000 each while the election was in full swing.
Olafeso said this during an interview with newsmen. Reflecting on why the PDP lost the Saturday election to the APC, Olafeso said, “It was money politics. It was vote-buying that assumed a new dimension, that is unheard of, that somebody will lay online almost N20bn of state money for an election, apart from the criminality and the distortion that it can bring about, the people have been entirely very pauperised.
“It’s obvious now that they are using poverty as a weapon for election manipulations and that’s exactly what transpired here in Ondo State. The criminality involved is exactly what we are investigating.
“The reality is how can you be smart to the point of, as a member of the opposition, rake in almost N20bn for an election and you know it runs contrary to the whole electoral process? We didn’t distribute money for people to vote for us.
“Forty-eight hours to this election, if you are a resident in Ondo State, you know whom the people wanted to vote for until the money influence and, in this extreme poverty, N10,000 means a lot, a world to so many people.”
But in a swift reaction, the Director of Media and Publicity for the ruling party in Ondo, Steve Otaloro, refuted the claim, describing it as false and baseless.
Otaloro said the party was open to scrutiny of the source of its campaign funds. Otaloro said, “All these allegations are false and misleading. The funding for our campaign was transparent and in line with electoral regulations. We didn’t use any government funds for our campaign, and we’re confident that our financial records will withstand any scrutiny.
“Our campaign was funded through a combination of donations from party members, supporters, and well-wishers, as well as fundraising events and activities. We also received funding from our party’s national headquarters, which is permissible under the Electoral Act.
“We’re committed to transparency and accountability in our campaign financing, and we’re willing to cooperate with any investigation or inquiry into our financial records.”
Recall that the New Diplomat had reported, how collation agents of both parties exchange words on the events leading to the outcome of the election on Sunday
The report came minutes after Aiyedatiwa of APC was declared winner of the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
