Campaign fund: Oshiomhole’s comment raises dust in Kwara APC

A former commissioner of Business, Innovation and Technology in Kwara State, Ibrahim Akaje, has demanded for a refund of his nomination fee paid to contest the 2019 House of Representatives ticket. This is coming on the heels of the recent comments of a former chairman of the APC and now a senator, Adams Oshiomhole, on […]

A former commissioner of Business, Innovation and Technology in Kwara State, Ibrahim Akaje, has demanded for a refund of his nomination fee paid to contest the 2019 House of Representatives ticket.

This is coming on the heels of the recent comments of a former chairman of the APC and now a senator, Adams Oshiomhole, on how the party had to spend about N800 million to win the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state.

Akaje’s demand, posted on his verified Facebook page, queried the whereabouts of the money which was allegedly refunded to the state.

According to the post, “If N800 million and another N220 million nomination fees were indeed returned to aspirants as alleged by former chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who then has the guts to sit on the nomination fees that I paid to purchase Reps form in 2018? 

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“As an aspirant who contested for the seat in that election, I want to say very clearly that nobody refunded my nomination fee.

“The money is sitting somewhere and must be produced! When some of the youths working with me then were raising the issue of refund, I brushed it aside as mere rumour. It turns out it is not,” he added.

He further said he has been raising the issue since 2018 because there was “never an authoritative statement from any quarters” about a purported refund to any aspirant. 

Akaje, who said his query was not specifically directed at the state governor, called out a former party chairman and a minister, two officials who worked with the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

When contacted for comments on Sunday, the state APC chairman, Alhaji Tajudeen Folaranmi Aro, told our correspondent that he was at a public function and would respond later. 

He, however, did not pick up several calls made to him or respond to a text message on the matter before the filing of this report on Sunday evening.

The latest development highlights a new twist in the campaign fund controversy which hit the party during the build-up to the 2019 elections.

Despite the victory of the governor at the polls, the controversy peaked during the 2023 electioneering, leading to the former minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, leading a faction of the party to the SDP.

Although Lai later backtracked and worked for the APC, many leading members of the faction contested with the SDP tickets.