PDP in dilemma over Jonathan’s abandoned campaign materials

Tongues are now wagging within the Campaign Organisation of President Goodluck Jonathan over what to do with the expensive campaign materials produced but not used for the President’s campaign after all.

Finding showed that the materials, which consist of bill boards, fez caps, specially branded T-shirts, giant posters of the president and his vice, Sambo, and highly priced mementos, have been dumped at the Presidential Campaign Office, otherwise known as Legacy House in Maitama, Abuja.

The undistributed campaign stuffs are being dumped in two large stores at the Legacy House and the party is now considering what to do with them given that the presidential election has since been won and lost.

The materials are said to have been produced and delivered by the contractors engaged by the Jonathan’s Presidential Campaign Organisation just before the March 28 presidential election and could not be dispatched to benefiting states before the close of campaigns.

It was said that some top officials in the campaign team deliberately sabotaged the distribution of the materials till the close of campaigns, alleging that the contracts were ‘shared’ to cronies of top party leaders, who in turn subcontracted them to their cronies.

Those who lost out in the contracts are reported to have drawn attention to the supplies, which now occupy available space in the compound and raising eyebrow as to what might have caused the non-distribution to states.

But the Director of Finance of the Presidential Campaign Organisation, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, said that unused campaign publicity materials were reserved for the President’s Grand Rally in Abuja, which was later cancelled.

According to the former Finance Minister, the contractors produced and delivered the materials on time and there was no effort whatsoever to sabotage the distribution to states.

Usman, who also denied having a hand in the production of the campaign materials, said that there was no foul play in the exercise.

It will be recalled that the Legacy House, which was a beehive of activities just before the Presidential elections last week, has since been deserted by PDP faithful, who now mourn their status as members of the opposition party in Nigeria with the defeat of Jonathan by Buhari.

As at the time Vanguard visited the place yesterday, only a handful of security men was seen discussing their fate in hush tones.