FACT CHECK: Did Amaechi visit APC Chairman with bags of cash?

A picture showing the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, with some ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bags in-between their seats is currently circulating on social media.

The picture is being circulated on different social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, suggesting that Amaechi took bags of cash to the party chairman.

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For instance, one Twitter user, T’Challa, commented that the nation’s resources were being used to play politics.

“You see the loan Buhari and Amaechi have been incurring from China for railway stored in those 3 Ghana-Must-Go bags,” T’Challa tweeted.

“See Amaechi that said he does not like money. Behind them are bags of money which @ChibukeAmaechi brought to APC Chairman,” one Ogochukwu also wrote on Twitter.

Verification: Daily Trust gathered that indeed the minister of transportation who is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the APC visited Adamu in the chairman’s Keffi residence in Nasarawa State on Sunday.

The visit may not be unconnected with the fact that the minister’s consultation with the party’s helmsman as the race for the party’s ticket gains momentum.

However, it could not be ascertained whether the bags were brought by Amaechi. Also, it is not clear if the bags seen in the picture indeed contained cash.

One Habeebah Suleiman, who claimed to be in the entourage of the minister during the visit, confirmed that Amaechi met with the APC chairman but did not stay more than 20 minutes and did not go with any bag of money.

In a social media post, Suleiman said, “Very unfair. I was there yesterday (Saturday) at the Keffi residence of the APC national Chairman the whole day. When Amaechi walked in, he just stayed for 20 minutes and left. Not even 1 security detail escorted him into the house and certainly he wasn’t accompanied by any Ghana Must Go bag, not even a “Man handbag.”

A Google reverse image search on the photo generated on Twitter did not reveal where the photo originated from. Hence, it could not be established whether the picture was actually taken during the visit or doctored.

The picture is not also included among the ones that the party released after Amaechi’s visit.

When contacted, an APC official, who spoke off the record described the picture as “social media gibberish”, adding that, “There is nothing to it.”

Conclusion: Although, Ghana Must Go bags were seen in the picture of Amaechi and the APC national Chairman, there is no evidence to show that they contained money brought by the presidential aspirant.