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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the money paid to National Working Committee (NWC) members followed due process.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, after the NWC meeting on Tuesday, denied that the payment was to compromise the leadership.
Ologunagba said the NWC has resolved to conduct an extensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the publication of the payment in a national newspaper last month.
The publication, he noted, was targeted at causing disaffection among its members and stakeholders as well as bring the party to disrepute particularly in an election year.
According to him, an investigative committee headed by the National Legal Adviser has been set up “to conduct an inquiry into the source of the said malicious and injurious publication.”
“After a thorough scrutiny of the payment by the party, the NWC in session established that the payment was not a bribe but housing allowance duly approved and paid to national officers of the party in line with the conditions of service and entitlement of the staff and principal officers of the party.
“The NWC also established that the payment passed through due process procedures of the party in accordance with all extant financial regulations and payment approval processes of the party.
“It is also instructive to state that the national officers who returned their housing allowances equally confirmed and affirmed at the meeting that the payment was not bribe but their due entitlements in line with the conditions of service and entitlement of the staff and principal officers of the party,” the statement read.
The committee was given one week to investigate the matter and report back to the NWC for further action.
