The All Progressives Congress, APC, has denied ever giving money to suspected kidnapper, Hamisu Bala Wadume, over the February 23, 2019 presidential election.
The party said Wadume must have been making the claim as a desperate man, having come face to face with justice over his alleged involvement in criminal activities.
Remember that three policemen were killed by soldiers in Taraba State over efforts to arrest Wadume who was wanted for alleged cases of kidnapping.
Under arrest, Wadume was said to have claimed that the ruling APC gave him N13 million during the last general election.
He was also quoted as saying that Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State gave him N6 million for the elections.
But denying the claims, APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the era of giving money to thugs had ceased with the ousting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
He said his party did not have any budget for that.
His words: “It is expected that the alleged kidnapper, having come face to face with justice, would throw whatever he could lay his hands on into the fray.
“In any case, our party did not have budget for thugs. Unlike the period when the ruling party dipped hands into the public treasury to fund political campaigns and elections, APC had to rely on its own resources. Even if we had all the money, we would never allocate money for kidnappers and murderers. That era ended with PDP.
“Perhaps, he can name whoever gave him money. Definitely, it was not APC. From his purported confession, he claimed to be a PDP member before he went on to contest under another party.”
