Gov Abdulrahman maligning me after I financed his election – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said on Saturday he single-handedly funded the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2019 election.

The minister, who stated this during the commissioning of the party’s new state secretariat in Ilorin, said nobody gave the party “one penny” apart from what he gave out for the election.

He said the money paid to the party agents and leaders to mobilise voters was solely raised by him.

Mohammed said: “By the grace of God, I single-handedly, with the support of friends, politicians and families raised all the money for the five elections.

“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.”

He also dismissed the allegations that he diverted campaign funds to personal use, saying if he had not deployed the funds he raised judiciously, the party would not have recorded the resounding success in the elections.

READ ASLO: Minister, Lai, wants Kwara APC registration exercise cancelled, cites misconduct

Mohammed alleged that the lawmaker representing Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency, Tunji Ajuloopin, embezzled N70 million campaign fund.

He added that during the rerun election in the constituency, Ajuloopin could only account for N30 million out of the N100 million raised by the party.

“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 added.

The minister also condemned what he called the “non-inclusive nature” of Governor AbdulRazaq AbduRahman’s administration, saying the action was tantamount to “biting the fingers that fed him.”

He said that unfortunate that after he worked hard with other party leaders to win Kwara for APC, the governor, and his cohorts were maligning him.

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