Ministers-pay-billions claim was about past governments — APC

File copy: All Progressives Congress National Publicity Secretary, Mr Felix Morka.

The All Progressives Congress has denied that ministers serving under President Bola Tinubu paid billions of naira to secure their appointments.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, made the clarification during an interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time on Wednesday.

Morka insisted that a controversial statement by a party chieftain, Alwan Hassan, referred to previous administrations.

PUNCH Online had reported that Hassan, a spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, had alleged that some ministers pay huge sums to obtain government appointments and subsequently seek to recover the money after assuming office.

Speaking during an interview on Arise News on Thursday, October 22, while defending Tinubu’s management of government revenue and expenditure,

Hassan had 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.”

He also argued that the alleged practice was not peculiar to the ruling party, saying, “But this is the truth I’m telling you about our country. Not just APC. Before APC, the biggest fraudulent people you arrest after every government are ministers.”

Hassan’s allegation, however, did not identify any minister who paid for an appointment or provide specific evidence of the purported transactions.

• Tinubu’s Saudi trip for Umrah, not treatment — Aide
• Akpabio alleges payment for social media attacks on Tinubu
• 2027: Reps summon INEC chair, ADC alleges postponement plot

His comments generated controversy, with questions raised about whether financial inducements influenced ministerial appointments and who allegedly received the money.

However, Morka said the remarks had been taken out of context and wrongly interpreted as an allegation against the Tinubu administration. He accused opposition figures of using the statement to discredit the government.

“When Alwan Hassan said ministers pay billions to be appointed, he was not speaking about the current administration. It was in a historical context.

“His frame of thought was not talking about the present but the past. As a public commentator, you sometimes generalise without drawing lines,” Morka said.

The APC spokesman maintained that appointments under Tinubu were based on merit, competence and the capacity to deliver, rather than financial inducements.

He urged Nigerians to disregard suggestions that ministers in the President’s cabinet paid money to secure their positions.