Former chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state, Bashir Bolarinwa, has refuted claims that he had any knowledge of a sum of N800 million allegedly given to the party by the former national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole for the prosecution of the 2019 governorship election.
Senator Oshiomhole recently claimed that the party expended over N4 billion to win the Kwara, Imo, and Ogun state governorship elections in 2019.
Reacting to the allegation, Bolarinwa said: “I am saying this as the state chairman of APC that led the Otoge movement in 2019 that I am not aware of the money. Through APC’s victory in the election was one of the major achievements of the then Adams Oshiohmole-led national APC, but I was and still am not aware of any N800 million given to the party in the state.
“I am not saying that Senator Oshiohmole does not know what he is saying, but I am sure he would know the person he handed over the money to and where the money was collected.
“It is disturbing that after the electoral victory of the APC in Kwara state, most of the people who worked for the success of the party were sidelined and abandoned during the period.
“Even, all the efforts made to the national secretariat of the party under the caretaker chairman of the party under Governor Buni to enable him to intervene were rebuffed because the caretaker chairman and his cohorts had made up their mind not to support Bola Ahmed Tinubu for anything but we thank God today. It is unfortunate that the crisis created has continued to linger.”
On President Bola Tinubu’s administration, the former lawmaker urged Nigerians to bear with the administration.
He said: “I served under Tinubu when he became governor of Lagos state in 1999.
“Initially, that time too things were tough as he was trying to put things right. Later on, things picked up and became better and Lagos is still enjoying it till tomorrow. By the grace of God Nigerians will soon be laughing.”
