« Fuel scarcity looms as oil workers begin strike | Main | Another oil worker killed in Niger Delta - Army declares Ateke wanted »
September 13, 2006
Atiku lied, presidential campaign directors declare
THE Director of Media and Publicity of the Obasanjo/Atiku presidential campaign, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, on Tuesday denied the claim that the controversial Marine Float Account was a presidential campaign account.
Kolawole Daniel, Abuja - 13.09.2006
The media consultant to Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Malam Garba Shehu, had claimed in a statement on Monday that the account was maintained to finance presidential campaign activities of 2003 and was held in trust by Otunba Oyewole Fasawe.
But in a joint press conference addressed by Mr. Osuntokun, who is the Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and the Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Alhaji Idi Faruk, who served as director of media and publicity and deputy director of media and publicity in the 2003 presidential campaign respectively, denied Malam Shehu’s claim.
Mr. Osuntokun said “the Marine Float Account was opened in 1992 by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and since that time, it had been functioning. PDP was not in existence in 1992, it was only Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC) that were in existence.
“The vice president should be bold enough to defend himself. Out of all the report by EFCC on him, only one item was focussed on. “The statement is very confusing, the president never operated any joint account with anybody to fund his campaign in 2003.
“It is wrong to say this account was opened or maintained to fund the campaign. As directors in that campaign, we feel pained,” he said.
Posted by Publisher at September 13, 2006 02:17 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)