Vote Buying: ‘We Are Vindicated, Investigate Oshiomhole Now’ – PDP Tells EFCC

The Economics and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been urged to investigate the former Governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomohle, over alleged vote buying.

Naija News reports that the Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made the call following Oshiomhole’s submission on the events that happened during the 2019 elections general elections.

Oshiomohle, a former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had remarked during the book launch of the party’s former national vice chairman, Salihu Lukman, from the North West region, that the APC spent a total of N2.4 billion to secure victory in the 2019 governorship elections in various states.

Specifically, he mentioned that N800 million was allocated to Imo, Ogun, Kwara, and Taraba due to strong opposition leaders in those states.

Naija News recalls that Oshiomohle, while he was the national chairman of the APC, engaged in a bitter rivalry with former Senate president of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki after the latter dumped the party for the PDP.

The party’s candidates for the states caused a disagreement between him and former Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun, as well as former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha.

However, the Kwara PDP released a statement on Thursday through its state publicity secretary, Olusegun Olusola Adewara, urging the EFCC to initiate an investigation into Senator Oshiomhole promptly.

“We are vindicated by Oshiomhole’s public admittance that the 2019 elections in Kwara were rigged to dislodge Saraki.

“However, we want to assert that Oshiomhole’s public confession of indulging in vote-buying politics constitutes a serious breach of Nigerian law,” the opposition party noted.

You Are APC’s Biggest, Most Destructive Threat – Amosun Blasts Oshiomhole

Meanwhile, former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has labelled ex-Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, as a major threat to the party, stemming from the 2019 primary elections.

Naija News understands that Amosun and Oshiomhole clashed over the Ogun State governorship primary, which saw Amosun’s preferred candidate lose out to Dapo Abiodun.

Conflicts arose when two candidates were declared winners in separate primaries, leading to allegations and counterclaims between the factions.

The Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee ultimately supported Abiodun, straining his relationship with Amosun.

Over four years later, Oshiomhole on Tuesday revisited the 2019 drama and hinted that the party spent a whopping sum of N2.4 billion to win the governorship elections in Kwara, Imo, and Ogun State.

Reacting in a statement issued on Wednesday, Amosun accused Oshiomhole of dishonesty, challenging the accuracy and integrity of his recent claims.

Amosun said APC conducted the worst primaries in Nigeria’s history under Oshiomhole’s watch, describing him as “APC’s biggest, most destructive threat.

He said: “It is not in doubt that I have participated fully in the formation and sustenance of our party, the APC, and I can boldly say that the party under Adams Oshiomhole conducted one of the worst primaries in the history of Nigeria’s contemporary politics and ended up shopping for his own enemies, leading to his eventual removal as Chairman of our party. Nigerians should not be in a hurry to forget the allegations that preceded the conduct of those primaries and his eventual invitation by the Department of State Service, DSS, to clarify certain grave allegations.

“If anyone was in doubt that Senator Oshiomhole posed the biggest and most destructive threat to the existence of the APC at that time, and the party’s best bet was to dispose of a canon folder that he was and unfortunately still is, his utterances and grandstanding yesterday at an occasion to find solutions to our democratic and party challenges, would have cleared such mindset.”