Olu Falae says he is not going to return the money collected from Tony Anenih

Chief Olu Falae, the national chairman of the

Social Democratic Party (SDP), has said he
won’t refund the N100 million he collected from
Chief Tony Anenih, which allegedly came from
the former National Security Adviser, Col.
Sambo Dasuki.
Speaking on Monday, January 11 at a press
conference, in Abuja, through the party’s
National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Abdul Ahmed
Isaiq, Falae insisted that his party would not
return any money to the government coffers,
Vanguard reports.
Explaining why the money would not be
returned, he said the money was given to him
for onward delivery to his party, to assist sell
former president, Goodluck Jonathan’s second
term bid.
He said it was not paid through the office of the
former NSA and but through Tony Anenih, the
former Board of Trustees of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP).
Falae said: “We can’t refund any money to
anybody because the money we got as a party
came because of the alliance we had with the
PDP and we have the agreement note from this
alliance.
“If it is possible that the money Chief Anenih
gave us was from the arms deal, it is left for
them to ask Chief Anenih to clarify. As far as
we knew, we did not have any dealing with
Dasuki.”
The SDP cahirman asked the government to
hold Anenih, the source of the money rather
than himself or his party.
According to him, he cannot be a part of those
returning money to the government as the
people doing so were those who got money
directly from the arms deal fund.
He said: “Our fund did not come from the arms
deal, our fund came from an electoral alliance
with the PDP and we knew that the PDP had a
fund raising committee that gathered billions of
naira and PDP had been in government for 16
years.
“So, with that, we knew that the PDP had the
capacity to fund the alliance that was formed
with them by the SDP.
“We, as a political party knew that the PDP was
a capable hand in the electoral alliance which
we entered with them. And we equally knew
that the PDP had a fund raising, where it
generated over N20 billion down.
“So, whether the money came from Col. Sambo
Dasuki or his office, is what we don’t know and
it is left for them to ask Chief Tony Anenih to
explain.”
A number of prominent politicians have been
fingered in the $2.1billion arms deal scam.
Anenih had written to the EFCC explaining how
he disbursed the N260 million paid into his bank
account from the Office of the National Security
Adviser (ONSA). He said N100 million was given
to Falae. The money was part of at least $2.1
billion allegedly diverted by Dasuki, from arms
purchase to politicians.