Date: 2021-10-29

THE Secretary of the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Mustapha Ishowo, has described claims by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that he funded the 2019 general elections in the State as "false and self-serving."

He said this at a news conference in Ilorin, on Thursday. Ishowo condemned what he called the minister's dictatorial and divisive tendencies.

Ishowo, said this in response to comments made by the Minister in a newspaper interview.

He said, "The then governorship candidate ran and led his own campaign across the state, day and night. This was heavily bankrolled by the candidate himself.

"He also donated hugely to the campaigns of other candidates, even when he had his own election to run. This is the fact, and any claim to the contrary by Alhaji Lai and his followers is synonymous with his widely acclaimed epithet: lies."

"Alhaji Lai Mohammed's claim that he funded the APC election campaign in 2019 is a fallacy. Anyone who knows Alhaji Lai Mohammed knows he cannot part with his kobo.

"The claim that he bankrolled the governor's campaign is an empty boast that every serious party member and elder knew to be false. If anything, he was simply cornering party funds for personal promotion and use.

The motorcycles he was talking about were donations to the party which he was forced to share after a tug of war and subtle threats of reporting him to the party's national secretariat and the donors.

"Indeed, rather than warehouse such donated items at the party secretariat, they were kept at his LAMCO office. This shows his nature as a sectional and maximum ruler."

According to the party chieftain, the claims in the interview by the minister were self-serving and untrue.

Ishowo described the minister as intolerant of opposing views, saying the Governor's crime since the campaign period was to insist on mutual respect, equity, and transparent use of campaign funds.