The national leadership of People Democratic Party (PDP) declared that it is bankrupt and, therefore, it cannot complete its multi-billion naira new Secretariat which was to be located at the Central Business District of Abuja.
The national leadership of People Democratic Party (PDP) declared that it is bankrupt and, therefore, it cannot complete its multi-billion naira new Secretariat which was to be located at the Central Business District of Abuja.
[slideshow]43821[/slideshow]
The Publicity Secretary of the Party, Olisa Metuh, disclosed this information while answering questions from journalists in Abuja. He explained that the completion of the Secretariat is contingent on securing an agreement with a developer.
It was gathered that the building project was estimated to cost N11.5 billion when it was awarded some years ago. In recent months, the pace of work on the 12 story building slowed due to a lack of funding.
Mr. Metuh also debunked the rumor making the rounds that members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Party received a huge sum of money from funds allocated for the Party’s Presidential campaign earlier this year.
According to him, “during our sale of forms, we had planned to use a substantial part of the money to complete the secretariat. We organized a fundraising dinner during which about N21 billion was raised. We were informed that a portion of the funds would be given to us for the completion of the Secretariat, but we didn’t receive the money.”
The PDP Public Secretary also told our correspondent that the money the national leadership of the Party had kept aside to use for the Secretariat from the amount generated from the sale of forms was spent.
He explained that the NWC was asked to divert the amount to the campaigns of PDP governorship candidates during the last election cycle.
He noted that the directive came after the Party had lost the Presidential election to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“After we [PDP] lost the Presidential election, we were directed to divert the funds set aside for the completion of the Secretariat to the campaign organization for our gubernatorial candidates,” Mr. Metuh explained.
As a result of this fund diversion, there were no monies left for the completion of the Secretariat. Mr. Metuh stated that the acting Chairman of the NWC intended to broach the issue during the Party’s national caucus in order to engage the services of a developer.
A visit to the edifice shows that the work has stopped and the building is now a ghost of itself. Neither the contractor nor the workers were present at the building site.