Guardian / Nigeria: Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Mr. Doyin Okupe, last night denied receiving part of the $2.1 billion arms fund that was allegedly diverted into funding the 2015 elections for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The money was said to have been misappropriated by former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
Okupe had in a tweet yesterday made clarifications regarding the funds he received from Dasuki’s office having been mentioned as one of the beneficiaries of the funds allegedly meant for procurement of arms in the fight against the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
“I was not paid arms deal money. NSA paid for running of my office monthly from August 2012. Dasukigate was in 2014,” he tweeted in the early hours of yesterday.
“President is empowered by the Constitution to run his office as he deems fit. NSA is a staff of the president and subject to his orders. I did not take part in campaign. I was not involved in any aspect of the campaign. Neither was my office, online platforms quoted Okupe as saying.
“However, I kept up with my duties as a principal aide of the president and continued media engagement and interface where necessary. I received no special funds for any programme or project connected with electioneering.”
Making further clarifications in a telephone chat with The Guardian last night, Okupe noted that the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), which also paid salaries of the 25 staff, ran the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs since its creation on July 26, 2012.
“We had real staff. There were 25 people in my office. We had 11 graduates and five Master’s Degree holders and the office was being run by the ONSA.
Therefore, the issue of Dasukigate does not apply. Dasukigate ran in 2014. What we had was monthly running cost that did not change through out my tenure. As a matter of fact, the money was slashed by half as at 2014, meaning that I received 50 per cent of what was due at a point in 2014.’
