A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Sunday, urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, for alleged misuse of party finances to the tune of billions of naira barely six months since he assumed office.

HURIWA's National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, said the protest by unpaid workers at the party’s secretariat necessitated Adamu’s probe for alleged larceny and alleged grand corruption of billions of naira of party’s funds.

Adamu has also reportedly approved four-year housing and vehicle allowances for himself and members of the National Working Committee of the party because he knows he can’t stay long in that secretariat, so alleged a source.

Party sources who spoke to Sunday PUNCH confirmed that over N39bn was made from the sale of forms at the convention but just six months later, the party leadership has spent over N20bn out of it.

He had also replaced directors at the party’s secretariat to allegedly cover his tracks, hiding under sanitizing the system.

Reacting to the alleged activities of the APC National Chairman, Onwubiko said: “HURIWA calls on anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate the allegations of fraud running into billions of naira, including payments of four-year upfront allowance.

“A former Director of Administration of the party, Abubakar Suleiman, publicly accused Adamu of being economical with the truth when he said the Mai Mala Buni administration did not owe N7.5bn as claimed by Adamu, stating that all arrears were cleared before Adamu took over.

“This alleged scam is similar to the version of the Peoples Democratic Party where members of the National Working Committee of the party indicted the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, of gross corruption by returning N122.4 million alleged bribe which the party limply defended as housing allowance.

“The fraud within both parties must never be buried under the carpets of impunity and illegality. Aside from the EFCC’s probe, HURIWA challenges Adamu and the ruling party to publish details of the party’s account before he surreptitiously pushed them out of the system. Let the leadership of the All Progressives Congress come clean and inform Nigerians what they did with all the billions and if it is true that the Exco members were paid upfront their entire four year allowances, and housing allowances, then this must be dealt with as a misappropriation of party funds since you can't pay an employee allowances he/she hasn't earned. In standard book keeping practices, allowances are paid for a specific service rendered and retired with receipts. If the APC's hierarchy actually sat and awarded themselves juicy financial allowances for the next four years, why should that be tolerated because it is as irregular as it is illegal. Which receipts will they tender to retire these funds they reportedly collected that would cover their entire tenure which has only just started and will last for four years? By the way, why are the officials paying themselves housing allowances as if they at their old ages and do not already have their own accommodations? Is party assignment as office holders now as juicy as operating a crude oil well? There is definitely a virus of corruption in these two so-called big political parties and it seems they are competing to see who will outspend each other illegitimately before the 2023 poll. The Financial mismanagement by these two parties, if proven, should not be overlooked or condoned because this has a lot to do with how they will manage the nation’s commonwealth if they do not understand the need to be transparent and accountable in managing the finances of their political platforms. The Independent National Electoral Commission must be tasked to demand acceptable and transparent audited accounts from these two parties that are suffering from the epidemic of grand scale corruption.

“Nigerians now see clearly the shenanigans of the two parties that have ruled Nigeria at the centre at one point or the other. Men can only give what they have. No wonder both PDP and APC have been serving us corruption! 2023 is a time to choose wisely with the power of the Permanent Voter Cards!”

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