N9V TV
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has fired back at Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq after the Kwara state Governor accused him of ‘hiding’ funds contributed for his election in 2019.
The Governor who has been at loggerheads with Lai Mohammed, made the claim in an interview with ThisDay in which he countered the Minister’s claim of raising a major part of the funds for the 2019 elections in the state, which the APC won by a landslide.
Abdulrazaq alleged that Mohammed “hid” N100 million donated for his campaign by a businessman in the south-east, adding that he funded his campaign alongside his friends.
Reacting to this in an interview with ThisDay, Mohammed stated that it is “extremely infantile, reckless and desperate for a politician to reveal sources of campaign funds”.
According to him, that is why he has always said the Kwara state Governor is not even qualified to be a councillor.
Lai Mohammed said;
“Am I a post office? The businessman that he said gave me the money, doesn’t he know him? Did the man say he gave me money to go and give him?
“As I said, it’s extremely infantile, reckless and desperate for a politician to start talking about who gave what for a political campaign.
“I mean, it’s the height of desperation. It’s the height of recklessness. It’s the height of immaturity and that’s exactly why I say this guy ought not to even be a councillor.
“I’m serious. I raised funds from friends and associates to execute the 2019 campaign in Kwara state. These funds were raised for governorship, national assembly elections and presidential election. It’s on record that I received no penny from him to execute his own election.
“If he contributed, he contributed to his own pocket, not to my pool. I’m saying it and I challenge him. Did he give any money to the party for any logistics during the election?
“I’m going to give you a copy of the press release by the party, that the only person relied on for logistics was Lai Mohammed. I challenge him.”
Maintaining that he has never lost an election in his ward since 2003 in reaction to Governor Abdulrazaq’s claim of having no political influence, Lai Mohammed insisted that he and some of his colleagues were responsible for the successes recorded by Kwara APC in the 2019 election.
He added;
“But as I said, he accused me of zero electoral value. Well, I say that my records in every election, even in opposition, I have always won my ward. And again, that interview has done him a great disservice. If there is anybody who was fraudulent, I think it is him.”
On claims of not having a house in Kwara state, Lai said;
“Even when I was campaigning in 2003, I had a house in Ilorin. If in 2003, I had a house in Ilorin, how about 2019? My house in Oro was a Mecca for all of them. How many times did he come to my house in Oro when we won the by-election.”
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