The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, has said the NWC members of the party have agreed on the allowances before it was paid.
He was speaking on the controversies surrounding the return of over N100m housing allowance to the party’s coffers by some NWC members on Friday.
Dr Ayu said the NWC unanimously agreed on the allowance and that reports that the money was a bribe or an illegal payment as being alleged by some persons were false.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Simon Imobo-Tswam, Ayu said his mission was to return the party to power and that he wasn’t after the finances of the party. He spoke while welcoming the Forum of Elected Ex-Officio Members of the party who paid him a solidarity visit at the party’s headquarters.
He said, “The NWC met and discussed the issue of Housing Allowance. It was unanimously agreed that no bribe or any form of illegality took place. A statement has since been issued to that effect. The matter has now been laid to rest.
“The PDP was not founded to be in opposition. We founded the party to access power and develop the country and my historic task is to return the party to power. I won’t be chairman forever. For now, my preoccupation is to return the party to power. I did not come to steal. My public service record is there.
“I have been a leader of the National Assembly. I have been a minister many times. As a person, I have many faults, but stealing is not one of them. I am conscious of my place in history, and the NWC that I lead is guided by the twin-principles of transparency and accountability.”
The chairman said he deliberately didn’t respond to things said about him in the media because his focus was on winning the 2023 general elections.
Ayu added, “You may be reading many things and expecting my reaction. If we don’t always talk, it is because we want to maintain and build cohesion in the party. We don’t want continuous altercations in the PDP family. Our eyes are on the big picture, which is winning the 2023 general elections.
“Therefore, let us not lose focus. Let us keep our eyes glued to the big picture. Everything else is secondary. We took office because there was a crisis in the party and we don’t want to keep moving from crisis to crisis. It’s not good for the party. We can’t be in perpetual crisis, especially where the crisis is artificial.”
