A search by a leading newspaper in Nigeria, DailyTrust has shown that a serving northern governor, name withheld, actually the N100 million to the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) for tye procurement of the party’s nomination and expression of interest forms.
The motive of the transaction was a part of the agenda by some powerful APC members to draft former President Goodluck Jonathan into the 2023 presidential race.
A group called Nomadic Pastoralists and the Almajiri Communities led by one Ibrahim Abdullahi had picked up the forms on Jonathan’s behalf on Monday, claiming they paid for them.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after picking the forms, Abdullahi said they decided to purchase the forms for Jonathan to enable him stage a comeback and continue with the good work he had started.
But hours after the news went viral, Jonathan’s Media Adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, said his principal did not authorise the purchase of the forms but thanked the donors for their concern.
He also said Jonathan was not in the presidential race of the ruling party.
Daily Trust gathered from sources that a serving northern governor credited the APC Collection Account domiciled with Heritage Bank, with N100m.
The bank had also in a letter dated May 9, 2022 told the APC that it received the amount.
The letter was titled, ‘Notification of credit into account: All Progressives Congress (APC) Collections Account: 5600007616’.
Daily Trust had reported how two influential governors from the northern part of the country are plotting the return bid of Jonathan.
Multiple sources, who are in the know, said two governors, close to President Muhammadu Buhari, have secured the buy-in of a section of the presidency to actualise their agenda of drafting the former president into the presidential race.
While one of the governors is from the North West, the other is from the North East geopolitical zone.
The two governors have been playing key roles in the affairs of the APC in the last few years.
In the last seven years, the former president has not been attending activities of his party.
This is just as his romance with President Buhari and top shots of the ruling party takes the centre stage, a development that has pitched him against opposition leaders in the country.
The purchase of presidential forms for Jonathan changed the whole discussion around the 2023 presidency.
•Text, except headline, courtesy of Daily Trust
