Members of the Kwara State House of Assembly have dismissed claims by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that he funded their election campaigns.
The members said the minister lied, saying he was nowhere to be seen during the campaign.
The minister had alleged that he spent about N150 million on the campaign ahead of the 2019 elections, which brought the present administration to office in the state.
He also claimed that he got the funds through donations and contributions from friends and associates.
However, briefing journalists on the matter at the NUJ Press Centre in Ilorin, Speaker of the House, Yakubu Danladi-Salihu, said the minister must have mixed things up on account of his age.
“Lai Mohammed did not give any support in any form to members of the 9th legislature during the campaign and election. If he did, he should name who and what he gave out. Could the Minister be mixing things up on account of his old age?” he said.
Danladi-Salihu, who spoke through the Deputy Speaker, Raphael Olanrewaju Adetiba, said: “For God knows reason, Lai Mohammed did not participate in any of our campaigns and did not also contribute financially to it.
“It was the then governorship candidate of our party, the APC, who supported our campaigns all through. For the record, all the 24 members of the House of Assembly received financial support from His Excellency Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for the purpose of prosecuting the House of Assembly election, so Lai Mohammed should please stop telling lies to the people.”
The members also distanced themselves from his statement that ward congresses will not hold in the state until a fresh membership registration and revalidation exercise was carried out.
The lawmakers insisted that the congress will go ahead on July 24, 2021 as scheduled.
