Housing Allowances: PDP Working Committee Sets Up Investigative Panel

The National Working Committee, NWC, of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has set up an Investigative Committee headed by the National Legal Adviser to conduct an inquiry into what it calls a strange publication by a particular newspaper that reported that the housing allowance legally paid by the Party to its National Officers was a bribe.

In a press statement, the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba said that it had mandated the investigative committee to thoroughly examine the source of the said malicious and injurious publication contained in The Nation Newspaper of September 26, 2022.

Ologunagba stated that “After thorough scrutiny of the payment by the Party, the NWC in the session established that the payment was not a bribe but Housing Allowance duly approved and paid to National Officers of the Party in line with the conditions of service and entitlement of the staff and principal officers of the Party. The NWC also established that the payment passed through due process procedures of the Party in accordance with all extant financial regulations and payment approval processes of the Party”.

He further said, “It is also instructive to state that the National Officers who returned their housing allowances equally confirmed and affirmed at the meeting that the payment was not a bribe but their due entitlements in line with the Conditions of Service and Entitlement of the Staff and Principal Officers of the Party”.

According to the PDP National Publicity Secretary, “The NWC resolved to conduct an extensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the said publication in The Nation Newspaper of September 26, 2022, which was clearly targeted to cause disaffection among members and stakeholders of the Party as well as bring the Party to disrepute before our teeming supporters all over the world, particularly in an election year”.

The investigative Committee has one week to carry out its assignment and report back to the National Working Committee, NWC, for further action.

Emmanuel Ukoh