The All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed a statement by kidnap suspect, Alhaji Hamisu Balla, also known as Wadume, who claimed that the ruling party gave him N13 million for the February 23 presidential election. Reacting to the claim, the spokesperson for the APC, Mallam Lanre Issa Onilu, disowned the suspect and noted that the party does not budget for political thugs. Onilu who noted that the era where money was given to hoodlums ended with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenged the suspect to name who gave him the money.
“It is expected that the alleged kidnapper, having come face to face with justice, would throw whatever he could lay his hands on into the fray. In any case, our party did not have budget for thugs,” he said. “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.
The APC spokesperson said Wadume had already claimed in his confessional statement to be a member of the 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, “Onilu said.
Meanwhile, kidnap kingpin Hamisu Bala Wadume has reportedly made shocking confessions before the Special Investigation Panel in Abuja. The Nation reports that the panel is probing the circumstances of Wadume’s escape when he was first arrested and the killing of policemen and a civilian by soldiers at a checkpoint. Wadume was reportedly questioned for many hours by the Rear Admiral Ibikunle Olaiya -led special investigative panel. He allegedly gave a vivid account of his alleged dealings with an army captain and the financial transactions he had with him and other security personnel.