Buhari denies getting funds from Arab country for his campaign

The  former Head of State  and Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari has denied any financial link with any Arab country in aid of his electioneering campaigns.

Also wednesday, Buhari's campaign organization made some readjustments in its structure by appointing media aide to the former Vice President, Garba Shehu as the new head of Media and Publicity for the campaign team.

Buhari denial came through his Chief of Staff, Col. Hamid Ali (rtd) who spoke to journalists in Abuja Wednesday during an interactive session with several groups supporting the Buhari's presidential bid.

This is even as a coalition of support groups, under the aegis of the Buhari Support Organisation on Wednesday, announced that the Buhari Crowd Funding Initiative has so far yielded a total of N118, 702, 265. 36.
Ali who is also Buhari’s Chief of Staff, said claims that the former Head of State was expecting funding from the Arab league were not only untrue, but also malicious.
He said, “It is not true. I am part of it, I am in the centre of it and I don’t know of any Arab man that has spoken to us, so it is untrue, it is false.
“Buhari has said it that he lunched the (crowd) funding to get money purposely from the lower people because he want the commitment of the people and to remember when he get to the office that it is the sweat of the people that got him there and by that he will be more committed to serve them.”
Ali however confirmed that the Buhari campaign team was receiving donations from groups and individuals who have identified with the cause of rescuing Nigeria.
He explained that apart from the sale of specialised scratch cards, there were donations made directly to the designated bank account.
Earlier in his address during a meeting of support groups, Ali explained that the sum of N54 million was realized as of December 24, 2014 while an additional N64, 702,265.36 accrued to the fund as of Wednesday.
He further explained that the idea behind the meeting of support groups was to provide an avenue to examine the challenges being encountered by the support groups in order to harmonise positions ahead of next month’s presidential poll.
He expressed the group’s appreciation to all those who have so far identified with the Buhari for President project. He equally said Nigeria and Nigerians will be the better for it when the retired general is given the mantle of leadership because he has all it takes to take Nigeria out of the woods.