National leader of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr. Gani Adams has denied media reports that he collected the sum of N9bn from the former President, Goodluck Jonathan and the late President of Libya, Mummar Ghaddaffi.
The OPC National Coordinator made the denial in a statement made available to DAILY POST on Monday.
Adams said, “This particular allegation is particularly laughable. That somebody would believe this story is not only a woeful display of ignorance, but also pathetic. Despite the poor state of the nation’s economy, the sum of N9billion is a huge amount that I am not sure that, even each gubernatorial candidates of the PDP got from the presidency to prosecute their campaigns. So, while it can be pardoned that somebody came up with the story, it is surely unpardonable and gullible of anybody to believe it.
“However, for a better understanding of the source of the story, you will recall that it was the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, who as the spokesperson of the APC at the time, came up with the allegation that the former president gave me N9 billion.
“Mohammed’s allegation at the time was that we received the money as payment for the pipeline surveillance contract. He said the money was for us to prosecute the election. His allegation was shortly after our protest against the former INEC chairman’s distribution of PVCs, which we felt was skewed in favour of the north at the time. And to the glory of God, all the fears we raised during the protest were proved during the elections. Mohammed’s allegations have also been proved to be false. Adams further stated that he never received any money the government as payment for the pipeline contract. Such allegation coming from a person who today occupies the office of the nation’s minister of information is rather unfortunate and sad.
It would be recalled that the former coordinator of the congress for Kwara State, Moruf Salami, along with former coordinators for Ondo and Oyo states, had claimed that he collected N9bn from former President, Goodluck Jonathan, adding that he also collected 22 million dollars from the late Libyan president, Ghaddaffi.
On the allegation that he received the sum of $22m from the late Ghaddafi, Adams said, ““All my life, I have never set my foot on the soil of Libya, neither did I meet the late Ghadaffi or his agent at any time.
“Let me state here that when this issue first came up, I took it upon myself to write a petition to the State Security Service (SSS), informing them of the allegation and pleading with the Service to help investigate its source in order to get to the root of the matter.
“As I speak with you, I am still awaiting the response to my petition. Having said that, I want to once again plead with the SSS to, as a matter of urgency, make sure that these people who have alleged me of this grave crime are made to prove the source of their allegation, and if they are not able to do so, should be made to face prosecution for their actions. It is important to explain this, because, by my understanding, it is more than four years now that the Libyan leader died.
“They should explain what the money is meant for and how it was sent to me. Such huge amount of money cannot be transferred to an individual secretly, so they need to do more explanation on how I allegedly received this money.
Adams further added, “I am not a war mercenary, and I am not sure that Ghadaffi was a Father Xmas who would want to give out such money as a gift. Our organization is a peaceful socio-cultural group, with the sole aim of promoting the cultural heritage of Yoruba race.
Dismissing claims that he received N1.6bn from former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, Adams said, “To the best of my knowledge, the last time that I saw the former minister was when he accompanied the former president to the National Confab during the inaugural speech by the former president.
He called on those spreading the rumour to explain to the world how he got the money and for what purpose it was meant.
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