The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly misusing the party’s funds to the tune of more than N20 billion barely six months after taking office.
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), a civil rights advocacy group, issued the request in response to a recent strike by unpaid staff at the party headquarters who accused the party chairman of corruption.
The APC chairman reportedly approved a four-year housing and vehicle allowance for himself and members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) based on the alleged claim that he (Adamu) knows he can’t stay long in that secretariat, according to a statement from HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko.
Citing a newspaper article, HURIWA asserted that the sale of registration forms at the recent APC national conference generated over N39 billion, of which the party leadership spent over N20 billion in just six months.
In a statement dated October 30, 2022, Adamu was further charged with removing secretariat directors within the party to purportedly mask his tracks while disguising himself as system sanitization.
“HURIWA calls on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, an anti-graft agency, to look into the claims of theft totaling billions of dollars, including payments of four-year upfront allowance by the APC.
The Mai Mala Buni administration did not owe N7.5 billion, as alleged by Adamu, and all debts were paid before Adamu took over, according to a former director of administration for the party named Abubakar Suleiman, who publicly accused Adamu of stretching the facts.
“This alleged scam is comparable to the Peoples Democratic Party’s version, in which members of the party’s National Working Committee accused the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, of gross corruption by returning an alleged bribe of N122.4 million that the party feebly justified as a housing allowance.
Onwubiko remarked, “The fraud within both parties must never be swept under the rug of impunity and lawlessness.”
Along with requesting an investigation, HURIWA urged Adamu and the ruling party to make their financial records public “before he covertly pushed them out of the system.”
He added that: “If it is true that the exco members were paid upfront their entire four-year allowances, and housing allowances, then this must be dealt with as a misappropriation of party funds since you can’t pay an employee allowances he/she hasn’t earned.” He said the APC leadership must be transparent and tell Nigerians what they did with all the billions.
“According to best practices for bookkeeping, allowances are paid for specific services provided and retired with receipts. “Which receipts would they produce to retire these cash they apparently gathered that would cover their entire tenure which has only just began and will last for four years?” the APC leader asked. “Why should that be tolerated since it is as irregular as it is criminal.”
