Edo Poll: How we raised N200m to support Okpebholo’s election

The Deputy Spokesperson for the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, has refuted claims of forced deductions from members’ allowances to fund Monday Okpebholo’s governorship election, stating that members donated willingly.

A local newspaper had reported that ₦1.4 million was deducted from the allowances of members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), with ₦1 million used to fund Mr Okpebholo’s election campaign.

The report also claimed that some members were dissatisfied with the actions of the House leadership.

In a statement on Monday, Mr Agbese described the report as inaccurate, clarifying that members had agreed to contribute in support of Mr Okpebholo, a serving senator, and his running mate, Dennis Idahosa, a member of the House.

The legislator revealed that the decision to support Messrs Okpebholo and Idahosa was made during an APC caucus meeting, during which they resolved to contribute ₦200 million to the campaign.

Mr Agbese added that the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, was not present at the meeting where the decision was made, dismissing the accusation that he (Tajudeen) forced members to donate.

“The report by Leadership Newspaper is incorrect. The Senate had already decided to support the then governorship candidate, now Governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo. We also found it appropriate to support the ticket because the running mate, now Deputy Governor-elect Dennis Idahosa, is one of us, a member of the House of Representatives.

“Nobody was compelled to give, contrary to the report. The speaker wasn’t even at the meeting. So, the claim that he unilaterally ordered deductions from lawmakers’ allowances without their knowledge is completely false,” he said.

Mr Agbese, who represents Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State, further explained that the process was not conducted in secret, adding that Deputy Speaker Ben Kalu chaired a fundraising committee for the Edo governorship election.

“If lawmakers were indeed unhappy or felt forced to contribute, they would have protested when it was first reported that the APC House caucus was making a donation to the campaign. Why raise concerns now?

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“We had a quorum at the meeting, and the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu was appointed Chairman of the Fundraising Committee. I’ve gone to this length to assure Nigerians that everything was done in an orderly manner,” he added.

Mr Okpebholo won the September election, polling 291,667 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 247,274 votes.

Altogether, 18 candidates contested on 21 September.