Mr. Femi Fani Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation has protested the inclusion of his name in the list of alleged looters of the national treasury released by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Sunday.
Fani Kayode, who was director of publicity of the campaign organization of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 general election is currently being tried along with other accused persons by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over allegations that the fund used to run the publicity campaign was illegally taken from the national treasury.
But in spite of his ongoing trial, the former minister said the claims that he looted N800 million from the national treasury in the list of alleged looters by Alhaji Mohammed is ‘nonsensical and utterly shameful.’
While asserting that he is totally innocent of any wrongdoing, Fani Kayode said, “The Federal Government claims that I “looted” 800,000,000 naira from government coffers. This is false.
“I did not receive and neither was I ever given one kobo by any government official, government agency or government parastatal during President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure.
“The money that I received was given to me by the Director of Finance of the Jonathan Campaign Organization, Mrs. Esther Nenadi Usman, before the election in 2015 and it was specifically for the conduct of the Presidential election.
“I was Director of Media and Publicity of the Campaign Organization and it was used specifically and solely for the running and conducting of the media and publicity aspect of the election.
“Meanwhile I reject the false label of “looter” and I hereby return it to sender.”
Fani Kayode also claimed all the funds he got were private funds as he denied all charges of corruption levied against him by the Federal government and EFCC, adding that he shall continue to defend himself and his family before the court of law.