The Peoples Democratic Party has queried the source of the N1.77bn donation by the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria and the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria to President Muhammadu Buhari for his re-election campaign.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, who spoke on Politics Today, a live programme on Channels Television, on Friday evening, alleged that the N100 was paid by farmers as registration fee to obtain loans from the Federal Government.
Ologbondiyan said, “The programme, which the All Progressives Congress claimed the Central Bank of Nigeria would raise a sum of N1.2bn through the association of Nigerian farmers, is a fraud. It’s a scam and it shows manifestly the corruption that has permeated this government.
“The RIFAN programme under President Buhari’s administration has imposed pains and anguish on Nigerians. FEPSAN was told to register with N100. They were told to pay a sum of N7.50. They were told that each farmer would benefit, depending on the (number of) hectares of land they possess, a minimum of N200,000 to engage in farming.”
The PDP spokesman stated that under the Buhari administration, no farmer had been given the N200,000.
He added that the Federal Government, through RIFAN, gave each farmer three bags of seed, a pumping machine, and a hoe of five feet, which he said was allocated to two farmers to share.
“For them to now turn around and claim that the same Nigerians, from whom they have looted resources, are now contributing N100 for Buhari’s campaign is the height of corruption and it manifestly shows that this government is a scam.
“The Anchor Borrowers Programme predated this administration and in times past, particularly during (former) President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, there were cases of funds being distributed to farmers.
“But I am insisting that under this administration, farmers are being scammed and there is nowhere in this entire nation where farmers have been told that they are to contribute a sum of N100 for the campaign of President Buhari.
“I and my party are insisting that for anybody without the CBN governor or whoever to come out and claim that Nigerian farmers are raising funds for President Buhari is a fraud and scammer. It is the height of corruption that is associated with this present government,” he said.
The National Coordinator, Buhari Campaign Group, Danladi Pasali, however, dismissed the allegations, stating that the farmers were happy with the increase in production of rice.
Pasali said, “People that have ruled this country for 16 years couldn’t offer anything to this country. We’re no more importing rice, toothpicks and all sorts of nonsense, and the country is making a lot of headway. Nigerians appreciate that the government has really given them all the succour and support to go back to farms.
“We’re talking of farmers coming together on their own to say they appreciate what Mr President and the government have done for them. In those days, somebody would go to the farm and there would be no way they could sell their things because they bastardised the system in the sense that importing made Nigeria a dumping ground for all sorts of products.
“But what the present administration is doing is encouraging Nigerians to go back to farms. It is the association of farmers that came together and said, ‘Mr President, we thank you for this ban. You should continue to ban the importation of all sorts of things that can be produced in Nigeria.’”
