APC crisis: Omisore tackles Lukman over alleged misuse of campaign funds

Rep’s arrest pits Dogara against Bauchi CP
Two members of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC), Sen. Iyiola Omisore and Dr. Salihu Lukman, have continued to trade words over the alleged misuse of presidential campaign funds meant for Osun State.

Yesterday, Omisore, the party’s National Secretary, threatened to slam a libel suit against Lukman for tarnishing his reputation in the eyes of the public.

Lukman, the National Vice Chairman (North West), had in an interview with African Independent Television (AIT), on Tuesday, justified his call for the removal of Omisore on the basis that funds meant for campaigns in the build up to the general elections were mismanaged by Omisore.

In the interview, he alleged: “I am aware the party had released some campaign fund to Osun, which was handled by the National Secretary. To some extent, he mismanaged it, but more importantly, he is not accounting to anybody. You have to activate the process of accountability.”

But Omisore, in a letter to Lukman, through his solicitors, Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), maintained that the claim by Lukman “is not only false, misleading and without any factual basis, but malicious in all material respect.”
He demanded a retraction, an apology and payment of damages for the libelous statement made against his person.

The Osun-born politician contended that the claim by Lukman was a deliberate attempt sponsored and/or designed to malign his image and his political stature as a leader of note in Osun, the South West and the country as a whole.

Omisore stressed that he neither recieved any money to prosecute the Osun governorship election nor did he mismanage the non-existing campaign funds.

He requested a retraction of what he termed the libelous statement and publication as well as an apology to be published in two major newspapers and several online news outlets within 48 hours of the delivery of the letter to him. He also demanded the payment of N500 million as damages for the “malicious” statement.

In the event that Lukman fails to comply, Omisore threatened to proceed to the court of law to get justice.

Former Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has accused the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, of colluding with the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to “come hard” on APC members.

Dogara made the accusation, yesterday, while addressing newsmen at the residence of the APC gubernatorial candidate, Sadique Abubakar, in Bauchi. He was reacting to the declaration by the police of a member of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Abdullahi, wanted.

The police had, on Tuesday, declared the lawmaker representing Bauchi Federal Constituency wanted for “criminal conspiracy, causing grievous hurt, disturbance of public peace and culpable homicide.”

But Dogara said the police was wrong for declaring the federal lawmaker wanted, adding that the proper channels were snubbed.

His words: “I was Speaker of the House of Representatives, I know the process of inviting a member, who is accused of an offence and these are just allegations. Nobody is alleging that they saw him with guns that he shot people to death, no. They are saying he imported some people.

“So, for a member of the House of Representatives to be invited by the police, they know the law; the Legislative Houses, Powers, Privileges and Immunities Act is there. They know how to invite him and must not break the law.”

According to him, for any member to appear before any authority, a letter must to be written to the Clerk and that letter has to be forwarded to the Speaker to be approved for him to appear. “I was a Speaker and I saw so many of those letters and I treated them. That was not done by the police in this case.”