Jonathan ordered Dasuki to give me N100m - Okupe
Mon Jul 18, 2016 09:26:am National
4K By sosa hills
Former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has opened up on the funds he received from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).
Okupe, who admitted that he received N100 milllion from Dasuki on the instruction of Jonathan, explained how he spent the money.
The former presidential aide said this in a Facebook post on Sunday while reacting to his arrest and interrogation by the EFCC, said that based on the presidential order, he received N10 million monthly from Dasuki to pay salaries and run a weekly programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
Okupe, who also spoke on his detention and quizzing by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), lamented that the commission exposed his health status, which he told the agency in confidence.
The EFCC had accused Okupe of receiving at various times N85 million from Dasuki.
But in his defence, Okupe said: "The initial N50 million was approved by the President to be paid to me from his security vote. N10 million was to furnish my rented living apartment and another N10 million for my office. The balance of N30 million was approved as takeoff grant.
"The N10 million I received from the ONSA monthly was to run my office, pay salaries of members of staff, including overheads, pay expenses for our numerous press conferences, pay for publications in newspapers, magazines, local and foreign, television programmes, bulletins, and media consultants who assist and facilitate our work. I had about 23 members of staff, 11 were graduates, of whom five were Master's degrees holders.
"The second N50 million was approved again by Mr. President when I reported to him that the monthly allowance had been cut from N10 million to N5 million and that I was no longer in position to keep running a one hour NTA network programme called INSIGHT which was aired 9-10am every Friday.
"We paid NTA about N1.2 million monthly for airtime. Two presenters were paid N600,000 monthly. We paid for tapes and editing per programme. Besides, we also paid honorarium for guests either directly or in form of hotel bills (for those outside Abuja), or transportation.
"The lead presenter on INSIGHT earned N400,000 and the second presenter earned N200,000. Totaling N600,000, not N600 million," Okupe explained.
"This costs averagely N500,000 weekly or about N2 million monthly. All in all we spent about N4 million monthly on the programme. Mr. President promised to help with the expenses. About a few months later when we had incurred some debts, the NSA sent me this N50 million which was to cover the cost of the programme for 12 months," he further said.
The former presidential spokesman added that the "monthly allowance was not my salary. It was meant to be used to run the office. Forty percent went on salaries," he said, adding that "salary sheets with names and offices of employees were submitted to the EFCC. I was paid a salary of N853,000 per month through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)."
The EFCC had also interrogated Okupe for receiving N76.5 million for dubious contracts from a local government area in Niger State, saying his company handled over 20 construction companies who were duly awarded contracts for rural roads over five years ago by the Niger State government.
According to him, some of the jobs are still ongoing.
On his health condition, Okupe said that he had a heart problem from childhood and disclosed it to EFCC operators to avoid being detained.
Okupe said: "I was born with Sinus Bradycadia, a non disease based slowness of the heart. It precluded me from vigorous exercises from childhood but I have by God's grace been able to live a normal and active life.
"With age, the slowness grew worse and life threatening. I sought medical help and went through a procedure at the Arrhythmia Cardiac Research Centre in Atlanta, where this defect was corrected. It was just a year ago and I am still under satellite monitoring from the USA. This is what I revealed to the EFCC and they made it a public issue," he lamented.
Okupe, who admitted that he received N100 milllion from Dasuki on the instruction of Jonathan, explained how he spent the money.
The former presidential aide said this in a Facebook post on Sunday while reacting to his arrest and interrogation by the EFCC, said that based on the presidential order, he received N10 million monthly from Dasuki to pay salaries and run a weekly programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
Okupe, who also spoke on his detention and quizzing by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), lamented that the commission exposed his health status, which he told the agency in confidence.
The EFCC had accused Okupe of receiving at various times N85 million from Dasuki.
But in his defence, Okupe said: "The initial N50 million was approved by the President to be paid to me from his security vote. N10 million was to furnish my rented living apartment and another N10 million for my office. The balance of N30 million was approved as takeoff grant.
"The N10 million I received from the ONSA monthly was to run my office, pay salaries of members of staff, including overheads, pay expenses for our numerous press conferences, pay for publications in newspapers, magazines, local and foreign, television programmes, bulletins, and media consultants who assist and facilitate our work. I had about 23 members of staff, 11 were graduates, of whom five were Master's degrees holders.
"The second N50 million was approved again by Mr. President when I reported to him that the monthly allowance had been cut from N10 million to N5 million and that I was no longer in position to keep running a one hour NTA network programme called INSIGHT which was aired 9-10am every Friday.
"We paid NTA about N1.2 million monthly for airtime. Two presenters were paid N600,000 monthly. We paid for tapes and editing per programme. Besides, we also paid honorarium for guests either directly or in form of hotel bills (for those outside Abuja), or transportation.
"The lead presenter on INSIGHT earned N400,000 and the second presenter earned N200,000. Totaling N600,000, not N600 million," Okupe explained.
"This costs averagely N500,000 weekly or about N2 million monthly. All in all we spent about N4 million monthly on the programme. Mr. President promised to help with the expenses. About a few months later when we had incurred some debts, the NSA sent me this N50 million which was to cover the cost of the programme for 12 months," he further said.
The former presidential spokesman added that the "monthly allowance was not my salary. It was meant to be used to run the office. Forty percent went on salaries," he said, adding that "salary sheets with names and offices of employees were submitted to the EFCC. I was paid a salary of N853,000 per month through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)."
The EFCC had also interrogated Okupe for receiving N76.5 million for dubious contracts from a local government area in Niger State, saying his company handled over 20 construction companies who were duly awarded contracts for rural roads over five years ago by the Niger State government.
According to him, some of the jobs are still ongoing.
On his health condition, Okupe said that he had a heart problem from childhood and disclosed it to EFCC operators to avoid being detained.
Okupe said: "I was born with Sinus Bradycadia, a non disease based slowness of the heart. It precluded me from vigorous exercises from childhood but I have by God's grace been able to live a normal and active life.
"With age, the slowness grew worse and life threatening. I sought medical help and went through a procedure at the Arrhythmia Cardiac Research Centre in Atlanta, where this defect was corrected. It was just a year ago and I am still under satellite monitoring from the USA. This is what I revealed to the EFCC and they made it a public issue," he lamented.
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