Following claims by the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose that his election was sponsored by Zenith Bank Plc, donations and from sale of political souvenirs, more alleged sponsors have come forward to deny partaking in the Ekiti Governor’s election sponsorship campaign.
Recall that the management of Zenith Bank Plc earlier today debunked connection with the Ekiti State election while calling on the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose to present his statement of account to back his claim.
In the same vein, the management of Sahara Group has also issued an official statement dissociating itself from Ayodele Fayose’s alleged sponsorship. The statement reads:
Sahara Group Not Involved In Political Donations
Our attention has been drawn to online media reports sourced from a Press Statement credited to the Ekiti State Governor, His Excellency, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.
We are particularly disturbed by a portion of the statement that made a misleading and incorrect link between Sahara Energy and election donations: “Most importantly, Nigerians are interested in the $60 million allegedly donated to the APC campaign by Sahara Energy, on which EFCC has been forced to suspend investigation.”
We would like to state for the record that Sahara Energy has never pledged funds/support nor made any donation to any political organisation/group. Neither has Sahara – under any guise – given funds to promote political causes of individual(s) or group(s).
In fact, Sahara is guided by a robust and well-documented donations policy that clearly states that: “THE COMPANY DOES NOT MAKE POLITICAL DONATIONS; NEITHER DOES IT SPONSOR POLITICAL EVENTS ON BEHALF OF ANY POLITICAL ASSOCIATION.”
We are, for the benefit of our stakeholders and partners across the globe, duty-bound to set the record straight in the light of recent comments in the public space that falsely link Sahara with political donations.
We urge members of the public to disregard this false allegation.
We remain committed to the principles of good governance, best practice and service excellence that have successfully driven the Sahara Brand these past 20 years.