Mr. Deji Adejayanju has insisted that the N15 billion found in Osborne Tower in Ikoyi, Lagos is no doubt, part of monies pumped into ex-President Goodluck Jonathan 2015 campaign though the suspended National Intelligence Agency Director General, Mr. Ayo Oke.
News Punch had a few weeks ago reported that Adeyanju Deji, the former PDP New media Director claimed the suspended National Intelligence Agency, Mr. Ayo Oke diverted monies meant for the campaign of Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
Today, he has also insisted the is part of huge fund doled out by President Jonathan through the security agency headed by Oke, fresh report according to Punch Newspaper detailed.
Deji in an interview with Punch Newspaper narrated how the huge fund was actually doled out through the office of the embattled NIA boss. Excerpt below as culled from Punch Newspaper
What is your relationship with the suspended Director General, National Intelligence Agency, Ayodele Oke?
I met him a couple of times during the 2015 presidential campaign. That was all. We don’t have any personal relationship. We only met during the run-up to the election, in the course of the campaign.
So after then, you didn’t meet him again?
No, we didn’t have any dealing with him until after the election when Femi Fani-Kayode called me that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was investigating him. So he called me to his house; he was supposed to meet a former chief of staff to the president, Brig.-Gen. Jones Arogbofa (retd.), and when I and Fani-Kayode got to his house (Arogbofa’s residence), we met the DG,NIA there and he gave FFK information about how the EFCC was probing him, Nenadi Usman and others. That was the first time I saw him after the election. We met at the same house again where the DG offered FFK $1m, that he should secretly return the money to the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu and that Magu would not proceed with his investigation. He said Magu would forget about the case and FFK may not be charged to court. FFK, I and the former COS were all there. FFK didn’t collect the money.
Why would Oke offer FFK money to bribe Magu?
The incident occurred few weeks before FFK was arrested. I can’t remember the date precisely, but it happened two weeks or so before FFK was arrested. Oke got wind of the fact that the EFCC was investigating FFK, so he alerted him about it. But FFK knew before then that he was being investigated. I think he offered the money because he was involved at the various levels of campaign funding. He was involved in the disbursement of campaign funds, this I know because I was tactically involved in the campaign. There are some things I won’t want to disclose now for strategic reasons.
Do you think the over $43m that was recovered in Lagos was part of the campaign funds?
It may or may not be, but investigations would reveal whether it was part of the funds. But I know that the NIA DG had campaign funds.
How much was given to him?
I wouldn’t know the exact amount, but I know he was given campaign funds because I was involved in the campaign.
Were other security chiefs given campaign funds?
Many people were given campaign funds, though I wouldn’t know about other security chiefs, but I am sure about the DG, NIA. I know one or two instances when he disbursed money.
Who did he disburse money to?
I won’t want to go into that. I am so sure that campaign funds were given to him. I don’t believe in the stories in the dailies that the money was meant for a particular covert operation, I don’t believe it. Oke had a reasonable amount of campaign funds in his custody.
Do you think he utilised the money for election or he diverted it?
He diverted it. He diverted most of the money. I do not know the source of the money that was discovered in Ikoyi because I was not there when he was hiding it. I obviously can’t know from where he took the money or when he hid it. But I know that he had access to campaign funds and he was very close to Adamu Mu’azu, the former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, and the apartment where the money was found used to belong to him.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan alleged in a new book, ‘Against the Run of Play’ by Olusegun Adeniyi, that Mu’azu worked against him. Do you believe this?
I used to work with Mu’azu. I would say I believe it partially in the sense that maybe he did not do enough to make Jonathan win. But he delivered his local government for Jonathan despite the fact that Buhari won and Jonathan lost the election in Bauchi State. When people are saying Mu’azu worked against the former president, I do not have enough facts to support that, but I am of the opinion that he did not do enough to ensure Jonathan’s re-election.
Do you know anything about Folashade Oke, wife of DG, NIA?
No, I have never met her, I don’t know her.
There were reports that PDP campaign materials were found in the apartment, does this suggest that the seized money was part of campaign funds?
Like I told you earlier, it is possible that the money was part of campaign funds. I knew because I was part of the campaign and I know that many people diverted money meant for campaign. That’s one of the reasons we lost the election. So many people betrayed the former president. Jonathan also confirmed it in the Segun Adeniyi book. I believe that people would understand some of these issues. Some people diverted money that was raised for the campaign and squandered it. This was money raised for the campaign. The one we solicited from other sources were also diverted.
Can you identify some of the people who did this?
Many people alleged that the former chairman diverted campaign funds that were given to him and other monies raised by the party. Many states complained that they never got money. Even the Ekiti State chapter of the party complained that they never got any money for campaign. Those are some of the reasons why the PDP lost the election and Jonathan was defeated. If we must do a re-appraisal, we must speak the truth and put the record straight. So many people have said he diverted funds, so people who should have received funds said they did not get it, which means maybe he actually worked against the interest of the party. You never can tell sometimes; political interest changes. Those who wanted Jonathan out had their reasons and they had many friends in and out of government who gave out documents from the Presidential Villa to them. The only person who can betray you is your friend.
Did state governors also divert funds?
I am not sure, I don’t have any information on them.
Do you have record of those that leaked classified documents?
Those are things I cannot delve into for certain reasons.
But you know them?
I know some of them, but I cannot delve into it at the moment. They were in the Villa; they were the people Jonathan trusted with his life. They were the ones who were leaking documents to the opposition. At a time, they even recorded the former president’s meetings and gave it out to the opposition. It was that bad. Jonathan was betrayed by the people he trusted.
Read the full interview with Punch Newspaper
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