The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied claims that ministers pay billions of naira to secure appointments, saying Alwan Hassan’s comments referred to past practices rather than the current government.
Hassan, a spokesperson for the party’s Presidential Campaign Council, had alleged that some ministers spend billions to get appointed and later try to recover the money.
Speaking on Arise TV, he said: “The way Asiwaju is hands-on on the expenditure of our revenue is fantastic and I love it. A lot of ministers pay billions and billions, and, you know, to get themselves appointed. The first thing they think of is how to recoup that money.”
Reacting to the backlash, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka questioned how anyone could recover such huge sums within Nigeria’s budget system.
Speaking on Arise TV’s Primetime, Morka said Hassan had clarified that his remarks were about practices before the APC came to power.
He said: “What he was referring to was not really about this administration, but he was speaking in historical context.”
Morka added that Hassan had spoken generally about the alleged behaviour of ministers over the years, rather than accusing the current government.
He also said he found it difficult to imagine how ministers could recover billions of naira spent on securing appointments.
Morka noted that lobbying for appointments was common in other democracies, including the United States. However, he said paying influential people to secure appointments was the real problem.
“I think the concern here is that when lobbying becomes monetised, where people pay money to operators or to individuals with influence to procure appointments, that I think is what is really wrong.”
