Onoh Challenges Tinubu’s Campaign Spokesperson To Name Ex-Ministers Who Paid For Appointments

Former South-East spokesperson for President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, Denge Josef Onoh, has dismissed a claim made by the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council spokesperson, Alwan Hassan, that ministerial appointments in Nigeria are secured through payments.

During an interview on Arise Television, Hassan claimed that ministerial positions were purchased and that appointees sought to recover their financial investments by looting public funds.

In response, Onoh warned that such allegations damage Nigeria’s democratic institutions and international reputation.

Naija News reports that Onoh gave the warning in a statement made available to journalists in Lagos.

Onoh, who is also chairman of the Forum of Former Members of the Enugu State House of Assembly, challenged Hassan to provide evidence to back his claim.

Onoh argued that the allegation should not be generalised to previous administrations without verifiable evidence, insisting that claims of corruption must be supported by facts rather than used to justify alleged wrongdoing in the present government.

He said Hassan should provide the names of former ministers who allegedly paid for their appointments, the intermediaries involved, the amounts paid and the dates of the transactions.

According to Onoh, the absence of such evidence would undermine attempts to portray the alleged practice as a longstanding feature of Nigeria’s democratic history.

Defending the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Onoh described it as a period when appointments to the Federal Executive Council were based on merit, character, intellectual capacity and administrative competence.

He argued that Obasanjo assembled technocrats and experienced professionals who contributed to Nigeria’s economic and institutional reforms.

Onoh pointed to the country’s external debt relief, banking sector consolidation, telecommunications expansion, and the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) as notable achievements of that period.

He challenged former cabinet members who served between 1999 and 2023 to state whether they paid to secure their appointments, maintaining that allegations against previous administrations should not be accepted without evidence.

The former campaign council spokesperson also criticised what he described as a departure from the discipline and institutional respect that characterised the campaign structure under the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said Hassan’s reported comments raised questions about cohesion and discipline within the current administration’s political communication structure.

He described the reported remarks as an affront to Nigerians, arguing that appointments to public office should be determined by competence, patriotism and a commitment to public service rather than financial considerations.