Some contenders for the chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have raised concerns over the abandoned national secretariat of the party in Abuja ahead of its convention scheduled for December.
The12-storey building, located in the Central Business District, Abuja, estimated at N11.5 billion, has long been abandoned by its handlers because of cash crunch.
The PDP awarded the contract to BNL Limited at the sum of N11.5bn and made part payment while in power. The project was supposed to be completed in 126 weeks.
In December 2014, the party raised N21bn at its fund raising dinner, which was attended by the then President, Goodluck Jonathan, his Vice, Namadi Sambo, the then Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, and the then National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, among others.
Ex-minister of Information and Chairman of the fund raising committee, Prof. Jerry Gana, said at the project site, on January 5, 2015, that the funds raised were not only for the 2015 presidential campaign, but that part of it would be used to complete the project.
However, our correspondent who visited the site, yesterday, observed that no additional work had been done since then.
A PDP chieftain, who was part of the project monitoring team, told Daily Trust, yesterday, in Abuja, that some party leaders were angered that despite the fund raising and other sources of income, the building could not be completed while they were in power.
According to him, “There are issues; remember there was somebody, a serving governor then from the South who borrowed N250m from the funds; he didn’t pay back and he later defected to the APC and no effort was made to recover the money.
“That project will be completed when more honest and focused people take over the affairs of the party in December,” he said.
A former Minister of Education and member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Prof. Tunde Adeniran, told our correspondent in a telephone interview, yesterday, that the party was determined to maximise various opportunities available to it.
Adeniran, a contender for the office of the PDP National Chairman, said if voted into power, apart from leading the party to victory in the 2019 general elections, the new leadership would ensure completion of the project.
“We are very conscious of the need to complete the new secretariat, and it shall be one of the priorities of the next NWC, by the grace of God.
“The new secretariat is a product of vision, great foresight and all the problems truncating it shall be removed to ensure the realisation of the people’s wish and expectations,” he said. (Daily Trust)
