In response to accusations of bribery about N122.4 million returned by some members of the party’s national working committee, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has claimed that the money was for housing allowance.
Debo Ologunagba, the PDP’s national publicity secretary, referred to media claims regarding the money as “unfounded” in a statement he released on Friday.
The statement continued, “The NWC has noted that this misinformation originated from an erroneous publication by a specific media outlet which indicated that the Housing Allowance, an entitlement officially sanctioned and given to national officials and personnel of the Party, amounted to bribery.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the PDP states in an unequivocal term that no funds were paid into the account of any member of the NWC as a bribe for any purpose whatsoever for that matter.”
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“If any individual, for any reason decides to return money duly approved and paid, such does not in any way suggest that the money was paid as a bribe or indicate that it was illegitimate or unlawfully paid.
“A bribe is defined as ‘money or any other valuable consideration given or promised with a view to corrupting the behavior of a person, especially in that person’s performance as a public official…’. This is not the case in the payment of Housing Allowance duly approved for officials and staff of the Party.
“The PDP, therefore, urges all members, teeming supporters, and the general public to disregard the report and misleading insinuation which are clearly designed to malign the PDP, cause disaffection, and distract our Party from our mission to Rescue, Rebuild and Redirect our nation from the misrule of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”
