Our Reporter

Kwara State All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday accused Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of being economical with the truth in his recent claim that the party did not support him during his governorship campaign in 2019.

Rather, the party said the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, sourced for the money to fund the state governorship campaign.

On Saturday, AbdulRazaq, at the launch of a book titled: “Otoge” in Ilorin, said some cabals within the party who received hundreds of millions of naira as donations for the Kwara State struggle from far and wide did not deliver a kobo to him.

The governor also alleged of none involvement in the composition of the campaign structure he was asked to fund.

But, Caretaker Vice Chairman loyal to the suspended chairman, Bashir Bolarinwa, Chief Sunday Oyebiyi told The Nation that the governor, “by his recent utterances, has confirmed that he never funded the campaign that made him win the election. It is very absurd for him to come out now and say that people never supported him. Which campaign did he do?”

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On the alleged non-release of donated funds, Oyebiyi said: “That is very funny too. If governors and ministers donated money for some individuals for the 2019 governorship campaign in the state, I challenge him to mention the names of those who collected the money.

“The governor should be factual enough to come out clearly what he means by all this.  We cannot be chasing shadows. This is an area he had to expatiate and prove it. That is a vague statement in every form. “

On campaign boycott by the party, the APC vice chairman said: “That is not true. This is a man who wanted to flag off his campaign at Kosubosu, Baruten Local Government Area of the state and refused to inform the party and stakeholders. Nobody knew.

“A day to the flag off of the campaign, the chairman went to him to ask about the rumoured flag off of the campaign. Then chairman asked if he had informed all the stakeholders and the Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed, the candidate said he did not inform any of them.

“So, one way or the other, the flag-off did not take place that very day. The following day, he went and told the chairman that he would go to Baruten to greet the traditional rulers.

“As the chairman was seeing him off, the candidate pointedly told the chairman that the party should handle its own campaign, while he would handle his. He said the party should source for money to do its campaign.

“After then, the chairman called Alhaji Lai Mohammed that there was a problem and that the party could not afford to fail. Then it dawned on the minister to move round and source for money.”

The APC chief punctured the allegation that AbdulRazaq was not carried along in the composition of the party’s governorship campaign structure.

“But for the governor to say that he never knew about the campaign structure, which he contributed to by the nomination of Kale Belgore, is very funny,” the party chieftain said.