31 March 2013, Lagos – The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN said the crisis that is now tearing apart the Lagos PDP, over the sharing of SURE-P funds among PDP members in the state, has vindicated its stand that the funds meant to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal have now become a 2015 campaign war chest for President Jonathan.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said when it alerted the nation to the abuse of the SURE-P funds in a statement on Feb. 3rd 2013, the government as well as SURE-P managers rushed to deny any abuse of the funds and called the ACN unprintable names.
”Today, the truth has prevailed as the PDP members themselves have confirmed that the SURE-P funds are being shared among them across the federation.
”Thanks to the alleged hijacking of the SURE-P funds meant for the PDP members in Lagos State by the Bode George faction and the crisis that it has generated, the nation can now see that the Jonathan administration has willfully converted the money accruing from SURE-P to campaign funds.”
ACN said a public statement by a faction of the PDP in Lagos has let the cat out of the bag. The PDP factional statement said, inter alia; “Bode Oyedele cannot coordinate Sure-P in Lagos State. We reject him. He has packed all Bode George’s agents as Sure-P beneficiaries. Is this the objective of Sure-P? Some local governments like Eti-Osa, Ajeromi, Lagos Islands etc. Please find out how they got the beneficiaries.”
ACN said from the statement credited to members of the PDP themselves, no one should be left in any doubt that the SURE-P funds have now become campaign funds for President Jonathan and his party ahead of 2015.
“On the basis of this, we are now calling for an independent investigation into how the money accruing to SURE-P has been disbursed since the inception of the programme, with a view to establishing to what extent the funds have been abused, and in order to prescribe the appropriate sanctions for those found culpable,” it said.