Spend N21.27bn donation on electricity, Buhari group tells Jonathan

The Buhari 2015 Support Group Centre on
Sunday flayed the over N21.27bn donated to
President Goodluck Jonathan by businessmen,
multinationals and the Peoples Democratic Party
governors to finance his 2015 presidential
election campaign.
The oil and gas sector, doled out N5bn; road
and construction, N560m; power, N500m and
Chief Tunde Ayeni and his associates, gave out
N2bn at the vent which took place at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja on Saturday.
The group, in a statement on Sunday by its
Director of Publicity, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe,
advised the Jonathan administration to channel
the money into the nation’s electricity sector.
The group is the campaign outfit of the All
Progressives Congress presidential candidate,
Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. But the APC will
this week inaugurate a larger campaign group,
which will be headed by the Rivers State
Governor Rotimi Amaechi.
The group said it was disgraceful for the
President and his party to still be talking about
improving the nation’s power sector after
spending over $20bn on it.
It said, “Nigerians are worse off in terms of
electricity supply than they were 15 years ago.”
It added that no nation had ever moved from
developing to being developed by relying on
generators to power its economy.
The BSGC stressed that it was most frightening
when one juxtaposes the United Nations
population projection of Nigeria by year 2030
(i.e 15years from today) at about 253 million
and 400 million by 2050.
“The PDP-led government will only lead Nigeria
into a demographic disaster with its current
failed energy policy,”
It explained that Buhari and indeed, other
Nigerians were right to ask ‘‘why we are still in
this epileptic electricity mess after spending well
over $20bn on the power sector?’’
The group said Nigerians should be ashamed
that when compared to South Africa’s 40,
000MW for a population of just 50 million, their
country is still struggling to generate 4,000
MW.
It also pointed out that on per capita
consumption basis, Nigeria is ranked at 178th
with consumption of 106.21KWh per person, a
figure that is well behind Gabon’s 283.6KWh;
Cameroun’s 176.0KWh and Kenya’s
128.68KWh.
The BSGC added, “The power sector featured
proudly two days ago in contributing towards
Mr. President Jonathan’s re-election campaign
fund.
“We would have thought such funds should have
been better deployed in giving Nigerians better
power supply.
“When four years ago Dr. Goodluck Jonathan
said he would not run in 2015, he had then
promised that ‘if voted into power within the next
four years, the issue of power will become a
thing of the past. Four years is enough for
anyone in power to make significant improvement
and if I can’t improve on power within this period
it then means I cannot do anything even if I am
there for another four years.”
It claimed that “the ordinary Nigerian on the
street knows that he or she is not better off
today with electricity supply as against four
years ago when Jonathan mounted the saddle.”
But the Presidency through the Special
Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr.
Doyin Okupe, said the group lacked integrity
to condemn the donation.
Okupe, who spoke with one of our
correspondents on the telephone added, “We
knew before and everyday that the so-called
Buhari group is not a serious organisation. It is
made up of power-mongers with no clear
objective programmes for the country.
“They have perfected the act of deception and
glorified falsehood. That’s why they will say
Buhari doesn’t have N1m in his account and he
wants to go into a national campaign.
“He wants to get the money for campaign from
corrupt politicians and people of questionable
character.”
Okupe said what happened at the Presidential
Villa on Saturday was normal and done
everywhere in the world.
He said, “What we did is done everywhere in the
world. What we did was in the open and it was
in a transparent manner.
“We know for a fact that Buhari’s funds will come
from dubious sources, including corrupt
governors.”
On why the President would collect donations
from governors, some of whom are still owing civil
servants in their states , Okupe said it was a
case of the pot calling the kettle black.
He said, “Buhari was sponsored for the APC
primary by Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who
unashamedly brought the treasury of the state to
Lagos.
“Yet, he has not paid teachers in the state for
about eight months. APC should stop this
pretence and put their house in order. Nigerians
are tired of their propaganda.”
On the call by the BSG that the N21bn donation
be spent on the power sector, Okupe disagreed,
saying that the nation did not lack money to
prosecute its power programmes.
The presidential aide said, “The power road
map, the first of its kind in this country, is being
pursued diligently and efficiently and it is being
funded legitimately through the budget for the
purpose of accountability.
“The nation does not lack funds for this.”