How Kwara N1bn campaign fund was shared – Ex-rep

A former House of Representatives member from Kwara State has given insight into how the N1 billion naira campaign fund sent to the state by the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was disbursed.

At a press conference on Friday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, Hon Moshood Mustapha, who was chairman of the APC Campaign Committee during the 2019 election said Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq was not among those who shared the money.

The fund has been a subject of controversy as the faction loyal to the governor and the Alhaji Lai Mohammed faction have been trading blames.

But according to Mustapha, a strong supporter of the governors second term bid, there is no basis to accuse the governor “because the money in question from Abuja also came with a sharing template”.

The former Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) narrated thus: “I am not even sure the money was up to N1 billion in the first place and given the template for sharing it, it was not possible for anybody to hijack of embezzle the fund.

“After the primaries in 2019, Bolarinwa called me for a meeting at Savannah Hotel in Ilorin where it was explained the money had arrived from Abuja.

“We proceeded to the party secretariat at Fate to constitute a committee for the sharing of the money for the election.

“As directed by the APC national Secretariat, sharing committee consisted of BOB, the Governor and myself as the chairman of the campaign Committee of the party.

“Also included were the three senatorial candidates, three out of the six House of Representatives candidates of the party, the state secretary, treasurer, a party leader and a national official, Lanre Issa Onilu, APC former national spokesperson.

“Nobody took custody of that money and no cash was brought to the hotel. But It was disbursed according to the guidelines set out by the party to cater for logistics during the campaign,” Mustapha noted.

He, however, appealed to Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Transport, state, Gbemisola Saraki, former chairman, Federal Character Commission (FCC), Prof Oba Abdulraheem, and other aggrieved opponents of the governor to sheathe their swords and work with him to further develop the state.

On his relationship with the former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, Mustapha said “He will always remain my boss, brother, friend and benefactor and I will never disparage him. I must continue to give him my regards, honour and respect. Our political differences does not affect our interpersonal relationship and it will never.”