Tinubu buys Ogun delegates for $25,000, Adamawa $10,000, delegates reject Osinbajo’s $5,000
No fewer than five delegates from Ogun and Adamawa states Tuesday at the All Progressive Congress Presidential primary in Abuja, have disclosed that they were offered American dollar notes to support a presidential aspirants Bola Tinubu and the vice president. Yemi Osibanjo.
These delegates said that they received cash gifts from Bola Tinubu, all but offsetting doubts over earlier expectations that the ruling All Progressives Congress’ presidential primaries would be grossly monetised.
The delegate provided information under anonymity to avoid being accused of anti-party conduct that could carry severe disciplinary measures.
Whilst Tinubu gave Ogun delegates $25,000 each to induce his acceptance as the party’s presidential flag-bearer tonight, Adamawa delegates said they received $10,000 each from Tinubu’s surrogates. The delegates have converged on Abuja starting last week ahead of the primary scheduled to be held June 6-8.
Asiwaju’s people came here and they said we should support him because he has the best chance to defeat Atiku Abubakar.
“Then they said they didn’t come empty-handed”, the delegate said.
Delegates from Ogun confirmed getting $25,000 from the former Lagos governor. They, however, said they rejected $5,000 from Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s surrogates.
“The vice-president’s people initially said he didn’t have any money to give and advised everyone to vote their conscience.
“But suddenly they came back to say he wanted to give us $5,000 to support our transportation and hotel accommodation”, the delegate stated.
The delegates admitted they rejected the money because it was smaller than what Tinubu, perhaps the biggest contender for the ticket, had already offered. The delegates shared pictures of the cash gift they said came from Tinubu with.
At least one delegate claimed being shortchanged by Mr Tinubu’s surrogates.
“I don’t know what happened but they only gave me $9,000,” the politician said. “I am working now to get the balance from the person they sent to us”.
The Nigeria Standard was unable to clarify how much other aspirants have offered delegates. At least five aspirants are believed to remain in the race amidst intense horsetrading. Rotimi Amaechi, Kayode Fayemi, David Umahi, Mr Tinubu and Mr Osinbajo are said to be on a shortlist of governors. One of them may be announced later today as the favourite, although President Muhammadu Buhari has acquiesced to elective primary after weeks of doubling down on a consensus arrangement.
Spokespersons for Tinubu and Osinbajo campaign bodies did not return requests seeking comments. Politicians hardly own up to sharing money among delegates in public, but they also keep mum about allegations of cash inducement.
Despite its widespread manifestation, law enforcement authorities have had little success with cash-for-vote schemes during primary and general polls because they are difficult to establish. A politician may deploy hundreds of agents via proxies to give money to delegates or voters but disavow involvement in case of arrest or public humiliation.
The APC has certified 2,322 delegates to vote at the primary, with 248 allotted to Ogun while Adamawa got 184.
Factors including the availability of delegates often contribute to how much will be paid on a state-by-state basis. For instance, delegates in states with incumbent APC governors, like Ogun, will be more difficult to secure than in states like Adamawa, which does not have an incumbent APC governor.
It is therefore evident that the aspirants generally channeled their resources towards states in which delegates are up for grabs.
Today’s affairs mirrored what transpired in late May when the opposition Peoples Democratic Party held its convention also in the nation’s capital.
The event was widely dubbed a ‘cash duel’ between Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, and Governor Nyesom Wike, his main challenger Atiku Abubakar got the ticket.
