PDP dinner raises N1.8b, 727 jet for campaign

A royal purse of N1.832b and a 727 jet were yesterday handed over to President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to fight the April general elections.

At a Presidential Fundraising dinner at the Ladi Kwali Hall of the Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Abuja, friends and associates of Atiku deepened the presidential pockets with a donation of over N936m. This includes the sum of N250 million from Alhaji Aliko Dangote and N200 million from Chief Emeka Offor.

The Grand Alliance gave a 727 jet for the presidential campaign blitz. Another set of friends of Atiku and Obasanjo in Rivers State gave N150m while the PDP governors gave N210m. Dr. Samson Uche single-handedly threw in N50m and construction giant, Dumez Nigeria Limited, presented a draft for N100m.

As at press time, after N1.832b had been raised, Dr. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, Director -General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange took the podium and announced that when the fund raising train stops over in Lagos, Corporate Nigeria will raise N2 billion.

The dinner was organised by the Finance and Fundraising Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in partnership with Corporate Nigeria. The 13-member committee has General Theophilus Danjuma as chairman and Mr. John Dara as secretary. Mr. Mark Wabara, Chairman and Chief Executive of Hallmark Bank, also a member of the committee, gave the vote of thanks.