Facts have emerged revealing shocking details on how the Charles Soludo’s Campaign Organisation is being directly funded using funds earmarked for the Anambra Airport Project, which has been raising a lot of dust in recent times.
This is according to several documents seen by our reporter which were released by a whistleblower who works in the Office of the Anambra State Accountant-General.
The numerous documents showed several banking transfers from the Anambra Airport Project Account domiciled in Fidelity Bank directly into Accounts of the Soludo Campaign Organisation and in some cases close associates of Soludo who hold administrative roles in his campaign organisation.
In one of the leaked documents which had financial transactions from an account named, Anambra State Government: Airport Project housed at Fidelity Bank with the account number: 615643218, it revealed a series of transactions that ran weekly from the 22nd August 2021 till October 6, 2021 to an account opened with the name Emeka Ezenwanne. Checks revealed that Emeka Ezenwanne is Charles Soludo’s in-law and is the Commissioner for Public Utilities as well as the Director of Finance in the Soludo Campaign Organization. Between 22nd of August and October 6, a total of N4.17 billion
was wired to the account.
In another very curious transaction a total sum of N1.8 billion was transferred directly to the Soludo Campaign Organization from the same Anambra State Government Airport Project account with Fidelity Bank. This transaction occurred in four tranches of N450 million on Tuesday October 12, 2021.
The last batch of transactions captured in the leaked documents is a transfer of N1.18 billion to CitiLine Logistics, a company owned by Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu, the Secretary to State Government and who doubles as the Director General of the Charles Soludo Campaign Council. It is not clear what services CitiLine Logistics rendered in the airport project.
The Anambra state government has been accused of siphoning money using the Airport project as a cash cow for funding the campaign of the APGA governorship candidate, Prof. Charles Soludo. The Anambra Airport Project has been generating unending controversy thanks to the secrecy surrounding the true cost and source of funding the project. No accurate figure has been released by the government as the cost of the project. Gov. Willie Obiano earlier this week declared that the airport is ready for commercial operations and slated October 30 for its commissioning, however it has now been confirmed that a provision of N10 billion was made in the 2022 budget for completion of the Airport.
This development lends credence to insinuation in some quarters that the N10 billion provision is to offset an anticipated loan by the Soludo campaign from Fidelity Bank for election day expenses with the expectations that if Soludo wins, the loan would be then offset by the State Government in the 2022 Fiscal year using public funds.
The Willie Obiano administration has further been accused of rushing to commission the Airport even when it is not yet completed as indicated by the additional huge budgetary allocations.
Calls to the Accountant-General’s office, SSG’s Office and the Soludo Campaign Organization for clarifications were unanswered.
