By Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied giving suspected kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu Balla, also known as Wadume a sum of N13 million during the 2019 elections.
Wadume has been in the middle of the raging storm between the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police over the murder of three police operatives and two civilians by soldiers in Ibi town, Taraba state.
Wadume who is presently in police custody had told a national daily that he ‘got N6m from a sitting governor and N13m from APC.’
According to him, I was also given N13million by the APC to prosecute the 2019 presidential election but I spent only seven million. I also defrauded a civil servant from Ibi of N30million.
However, reacting to the allegation in a statement issued on Saturday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, said it was expected that the alleged kidnapper, having come face to face with justice, would throw whatever he could lay his hands on into the fray.
He stated: “In any case, our party did not have budget for thugs. Unlike the period when the ruling party dipped hands into the public treasury to fund political campaigns and elections, APC had to rely on its own resources.
“Even if we had all the money, we would never allocate money for kidnappers and murderers. That era ended with PDP.
“Perhaps, he can name whoever gave him money. Definitely, it was not APC. From his purported confession, he claimed to be a PDP member before he went on to contest under another party.”
