O
ne of the political parties which did not sponsor a presidential candidate for the 2015 elections, the Accord Party, has confirmed receiving N100 million from a former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Tony Anenih, ahead of the polls.
The party said it got the money through its national leader, Rashidi Ladoja, the party’s governorship candidate in Oyo State.
The party opened up on the payment in a letter to the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu. The letter, dated January 8, was signed by the national secretary of the party, Nureni Adisa.
Mr. Anenih is one of several top politicians accused of receiving payments from a $2.1 billion slush fund, originally meant for the purchase arms for the fight against Boko Haram, but which was allegedly diverted by a former NSA, Sambo Dasuki.
The former PDP BoT chairman reportedly explained to the EFCC that he was not a beneficiary of the sum, but that he was instructed by former President Goodluck Jonathan to release the funds to some political groups for mobilisation and post-election peace advocacy.
In a letter to the EFCC, he stated that N100 million was given to the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), chief Olu Falae, N100 million to the leader of Accord Party, Mr. Ladoja, and N63 million to a group headed by Tanko Yakassai.
Confirming receipt of the funds, in the letter titled, “Release of One Hundred Million by Chief Tony Anenih”, Mr. Adisa said, “Our attention has been drawn to a newspaper report that the sum of One Hundred Million Naira was released to the ACCORD leader, Senator Rashidi Ladoja by Chief Tony Anenih, the former Chairman BoT of the PDP.