Exclusive facts have emerged about the reason for the recent travails of the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomole courtesy of Sahara Reporters.
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According to the online news platform, party sources have confirmed that names of governorship and National Assembly candidates seeking to contest on the platform of the APC were substituted with others on the list submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by Adams Oshiomole.
The sources went on to assert that asides from the party chairman, his Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Abbas as well as the National Treasurer of the party, Adamu Panda were also implicit in the last-minute substitution of candidates’ names, hours before submission to INEC.
Party sources also confirmed that aspirants within the APC were forced to cough out between N15 and N50million to secure the tickets for the various elective positions during or at the end of primaries.
Party sources gave instances where this electoral fraud occurred, for example in Zamfara State, the anointed candidate of the national chairman, paid N10milion to secure the ticket as well as recommend members of the electoral committee who conducted the state primaries.
This caused a division between the State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari and the Chairman and has led to INEC not fielding any candidate from the APC in any elective position for the 2019 general election.
The Zamfara Governor had accused Oshiomole of acting like a mini-god within the party and he had informed President Buhari that he alongside several other governors had lost confidence in the national chairman.
In Jigawa State, the former Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, was disqualified to favour a serving senator, Sabo Nakudu who is allegedly a friend of Dangote; the Billionaire allegedly influenced Oshiomole to favour Nakudu over Abba.
In Kaduna State, it was the threat of the Governor Nasir el-Rufai to align himself with the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar that cost Shehu Sani his return ticket on the platform of the APC.
According to a party source;
“If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) can go and check the bank account of the APC Electoral Committee Member, they are more likely to see a huge lodgement of cash within the last three weeks.”
Candidates who emerged from Imo, Bauchi, Ogun, Adamawa, Niger, Delta, Taraba, Imo and Rivers states were also said to have paid through their noses to make it to the final list.
A committee had been set up by the President to ensure that the party tickets were given to those loyal to Buhari but this committee was ignored by Oshiomole.
One of the candidates described the APC primaries as the “dirtiest and flawed political party primaries ever conducted in the country.”
According to Sahara Reporters, Oshiomole had sidelined many members of the NWC keeping the entire operation firmly in the hands of his personal Chief of Staff who collected the monies on his behalf and substituted names on the list given to INEC.
It was also gathered that the suit instigated by an anti-corruption crusader, Bishop Osadolor Ochei, asking a Federal High Court in Abuja for an order of mandamus compelling the EFCC to commence criminal proceedings against Oshiomole on allegations of corruption when he was Governor of Edo State was planned by the aggrieved governors within the APC.
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