ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Friday, May 20, 2022
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • #PandoraPapers
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • #PandoraPapers
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Lai Mohammed and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq

Lai Mohammed and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq

How I bankrolled Governor AbdulRazaq’s election — Lai Mohammed

Kwara APC leaders wash dirty linens in public as Lai Mohammed accuses Governor AbdulRazaq of biting the fingers that fed him.

byAlfred Olufemi
July 4, 2021
3 min read

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has accused Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of biting the fingers that fed him, citing how he singlehandedly sponsored the governor’s election in 2019.

Mr Mohammed, who hails from Kwara South, said this on Saturday in Ilorin at the inauguration of a new state secretariat of the party.

“By the grace of God, I single-handedly, with the support of friends, politicians and families, raised all the money for all the elections we had in Kwara during that period, starting from the by-election that brought in honourable Raheem Olawuyi (Ajuloopin) as rep member.

“I challenge anybody here to say who gave the party one penny apart from what I gave them. The money paid to party agents and leaders to mobilise voters was raised by me.I challenge anybody here to say that he gave logistic support to the party, I did it by the grace of God.

“I distributed 500 motorcycles, 20 vehicles and many of the beneficiaries are here,’’ Mr Mohammed said.

The minister also spoke about the controversial registration and revalidation exercise of the APC in the state, which he assured would be conducted again. He had earlier alleged that the exercise was marred by infractions in February.

Both Messrs Mohammed and AbdulRazaq have been at loggerheads after the All Progressives Congress (APC) coasted to victory in 2019.

The minister and some other pivotal members of the APC that played a major role in the ousting of the Saraki hegemony in the state have accused Governor AbdulRazaq of sidelining them in his administration of the state.

The governor, on the other hand, said he would not use state resources to reward party loyalty as allegedly expected by some APC members.

This rift was ,however, widened with the removal of Bashir Bolarinwa as caretaker chairman of the party in the state.

Mr Bolarinwa, loyal to the bloc opposed to the governor, was replaced with Abdullahi Samari, a development some see as an attempt by Mr AbdulRazaq to usurp the party structures in the state.

Both the spokespersons of Mr AbdulRazaq and Kwara APC secretariat, Rafiu Ajakaye and Tajudeen Aro respectively, could not immediately respond to enquiries seeking their reactions to the minister’s claims.

How lawmaker ’embezzled campaign funds’

Mr Mohammed alleged that a House of Representatives member, Abdulraheem Olawuyi, representing Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-ero Federal Constituency, embezzled a N70 million campaign fund.

He alleged that during the re-run election in the constituency, the lawmaker could only account for N30 million out of the N100 million raised.

“They should explain what happened to the balance of N70 million that Ajulo kept and refused to give us during the election.

“I have to go to friends to raise another N150 million to prosecute that election, which we won,’’ he said.

The minister also refuted the allegations that himself diverted campaign funds to personal use.

He said if he had not deployed the funds he raised judiciously, the party would not have recorded its resounding success in the elections.

Rep denies “wild allegations”

However, Mr Olawuyi in a swift reaction said the minister’s “wild allegation amounted to a campaign of calumny and a well-orchestrated move to score cheap political points.”

Messrs Mohammed and Olawuyi are from the same federal constituency in Kwara South senatorial district.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, the federal lawmaker said a North-central State governor reached out to him on personal ground to donate to the 2018 by-election and that when the minister got wind of the donation, he asked him to bring the money.

“However, I immediately contacted a few of our trusted party elders to intimate them of the development, but they counselled me against sending the money to the minister based on his antecedent with money.”

“Also, on my own, I personally gave Alhaji Lai Mohammed the sum of N32.5m, with the full knowledge of the former party chairman, Bashiru Bolarinwa, for election purposes; the minister and Bashir Bolarinwa cannot deny this except there is no conscience left.

Advertisements



“It will also interest the public to know that one senior Federal Government official told Governor AbdulRazaq who was then the candidate of our party that Lai Mohammed reached out to him and claimed that there was no money for the bye-election campaign in Kwara.

“The official whose name I won’t mention here spoke and pleaded with our governorship candidate (now the governor) and asked him to release N50 million to the minister, which was released but the money was never accounted for nor used for campaign purposes as envisaged.”

According to Mr Olawuyi, if anyone is to be accused of mismanaging the 2018 campaign fund, it should be Mr Mohammed whom he claimed was yet to give details of how the money was spent.

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

CITIZEN-FM AD


Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: Why women cheat: what every Nigerian man should know







PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Ushafa Pottery: Where modernity and tradition meet

Next Post

Managing Nigeria’s diversity for inclusiveness, By Wole Olaoye

Alfred Olufemi

Alfred Olufemi

More News

how-danish-citizen-peter-nielsen-killed-his-nigerian-wife-and-daughter-police

BREAKING: Court sentences Dane to death for killing Nigerian wife, child

May 20, 2022
Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong [PHOTO CREDIT: @The Plateau State Governor’s Directorate Of Press]

APC Presidential Primary: Plateau delegates will vote Amaechi, this is why – Governor Lalong

May 20, 2022
Cross-section of panelists and participants at the fourth annual autism conference organised by TAAF

Group launches mobile application for Autism therapy in Nigeria

May 20, 2022
Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal

Alleged blasphemy: Tambuwal lifts curfew on Sokoto metropolis

May 20, 2022
The heads of delegations attending the Russia-Africa Summit pose for photographs.

ANALYSIS: Proposed U.S. law seeks to punish African countries for ‘aligning’ with Russia

May 20, 2022
President Muhammadu Buhari signing

Buhari appoints new director-general for Nigeria’s industrial research institute

May 20, 2022
Next Post
Wole Olaoye writes about lunch mobs and the broken system in Nigeria.

Managing Nigeria’s diversity for inclusiveness, By Wole Olaoye

Jude Idada, winner of the 2019 Nigeria Prize for Literature.

Eleven authors in contention for $100,000 The Nigeria Prize for Literature

Read All Comment

Search

AUN-PT Ad





Transport-Technology


Stanbic Ad


Access Bank Ad





Glo Ad


Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,842,453 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert



Zenith Advert

ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • #PandoraPapers
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Opinion
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.