Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State, Okey Ezea
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State, Mr. Okey Ezea, has refuted allegations that he embezzled about N400m meant for the campaign of President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, in the state.
Some elements in the party in the state have been trumpeting the alleged embezzlement as the reason why the party failed in the state. But the findings of The Rainbow indicate that the state has remained predominantly pro-Peoples Democratic Party since the inception of the fourth republic. For instance, the state legislature is currently 100 per cent PDP.
Refuting allegation which has generated much furore in Enugu State chapter of the APC, Ezea has forwarded a financial report, which detailed how funds made available to him for the campaign were disbursed to the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie -Oyegun.
According to the report titled ‘Financial report on monies disbursed through the office of the gubernatorial candidate – Barr. Okey Ezea,” which was made available to journalists at Ezea’s campaign office in Enugu on Monday, a total sum of N133m from the APC was handled by his campaign organisation before, during and after the polls.
The governrship candidate in the report gave the breakdown of the funds received by his campaign organisation and how the sums were disbursed.
The breakdown shows that as the leader of the party in Enugu State, he received a sum of N38m on January 8, 2015, for Buhari’s rally in Enugu on January 10, 2015. According to him, N12m was already deducted from the source for a live telecast of the rally on a private television channel.
The sum of N38m was signed for the party in the state by a former governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige.
Subsequently, another N45m, also signed by Ngige, was collected by his campaign committee on January 11, 2015, as campaign support for the APC governorship, senatorial and House of Representatives candidates in Enugu State.
“As directed by His Excellency, Senator Chris Ngige, in writing, the N45.250m was shared among the candidates.
“The sharing formula was 50 per cent for the governorship candidate, and 50 per cent for the National Assembly candidates,” Ezea said.
According to him, 50 per cent allocated to the National Assembly candidates was subsequently shared “40 per cent to senatorial candidates, and 60 per cent to the House of Representatives candidates.”
Political opponents of Ezea, who are seeking to upstage him in the choice of appointments coming to the stte from the incoming administration of General Muhammad Buhari, has been making trumped charges that the he collected N400 m for campaigns in the state and simply pocketed it.
