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21/07/2016

Politics Kwankwaso, Amaechi, Others Bought Their WayTo APC With N100m Each

Kwankwaso, Amaechi, Others Bought Their WayTo APC With N100m Each

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A former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru
Dalhatu Bafarawa, yesterday said the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC), is the ‘mother of
corruption’.


Speaking in an exclusive interview with Daily Trust in
Sokoto, Bafarawa said APC is the “architect of the
enduring rift between it and some of its top-notch
members” which, according to him, was causing
the country immense loss of progress.

“APC government says it is fighting corruption, but
it is the mother of corruption; it has been the
mother of corruption since the day it opened its
gates to those five governors from the new PDP,”
he said.

It would be recalled that in 2014, about seven PDP
governors revolted against their party and formed a
faction, the nPDP, thereafter, five of them defected
to the APC ahead of the general elections.

Those that moved include Rabiu Kwankwaso
(Kano), Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko (Sokoto),
Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa)
and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).

Bafarawa accused them of allegedly buying their
way into the APC and thereafter turned all the rules
in their favour.

Bafarawa said, “When they (five governors) came
into the APC, they were warmly received because
they had the money to contribute N100 million
each.
 
“When I, a founding member and acting chairman
of the party’s constitution drafting committee
queried why they were expressly allowed entry, I
was bluntly told they had money to give. I then
offered to also contribute N100 million but my own
contribution was rejected.

“Those five governors entered APC to corrupt the
party, and they succeeded in doing so. This is why
I say APC is the mother of corruption,” he said.
Bafarawa added that “I foresaw that they would
hijack the party and attempt to do whatever they
want. If they are allowed to do whatever they want,
there will be problem in the politics of the country;
if they are not allowed, which is the situation now,
there will be a rift between them and the
government, they will be disloyal and impudent to
the government, and this will cost the country
immense problem in terms of progress.”

The two-term governor maintained that the problem
in the APC started from the time some of its
founding fathers were ejected and the structures of
the party handed over to the newly admitted
governors who, he alleged, joined the party for a
purpose.

He recalled that the constitution of the party was
drafted in his Abuja residence, and there was no
provision that said “sitting governors should be the
leaders of the party in their respective states.”
Bafarawa, who said he shared the same political
ideology with President Muhammadu Buhari,
advised the president to open his doors for
constructive criticisms.

Responding to the allegation, former governor
Wamakko, speaking through his former aide, Alhaji
Abubakar Cika Umar, asked Bafarawa to go and
clear himself of the arms scandal.

“He is a shameless person; otherwise, he would not
be dishing out falsehood when he has a serious
allegation dangling on him. He is being accused of
participating in the cornering of the arms money
and we all know the diversion of the arms money
contributed to the escalation of the insurgency.

“The diversion of the funds led to the killing of
innocent persons, turned thousands of children to
orphans and made many women to become
widows,” he said in a phone interview.

Bafarawa is one of politicians that are being probed
over the diversion of arms funds. It was reported
that he collected N4.6bn from the former NSA
Sambo Dasuki.

Also, Governor Ahmad, through his Senior Special
Assistant on Media, Dr. Muideen Akorede, said, “All
the allegations were not true because none of the
five governors at the time paid any amount to join
the APC.

“In Kwara for instance, our political structure is an
independent one, which made it possible for us to
move into the party in mass. We didn’t dislodge
any member of the APC but only gave life to it,” he
said.

Also, Hajiya Binta Sipikin, an aide to Kwankwaso,
said her principal will not join issues with Bafarawa.
“Senator Kwankwaso is seriously attending to
national issues for the betterment of Nigerians. This
is not time for politicking but a time to consolidate
the gains of the APC,” she said.
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